Obsessed
by TheEarthbendingRavenclaw
Summary: It takes a special kind of person to kill someone in cold blood. It takes a an even more outrageous person to kill a mother and kidnap her children. But that's exactly what someone has been doing in Fiore, and he or she has seems to have several wizards on their hit list. (Sequel to "Wedding Road Trip," "Born of END Darkness and Celestial Light," and "Children of Fairies")
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:**

"Ooh, look at all the pretty flowers!" 5-year-old Layla Dragneel cheered as she pressed her face against the glass of the train window, blond pig-tails bouncing as she danced with excitement.

"They always have flowers, why are you surprised?" 4-year-Igneel asked, looking a little more, well, "icky" than usual. He wasn't quite old enough for the full effects of Dragon Slayer Motion sickness to overtake him, but he had been reporting feeling dizzy several times during the train ride from Magnolia to Crocus.

"Because they're pretty!" Layla insisted.

"So?" Igneel countered.

"It's a girl thing," 9-year-old Nashi sighed before turning to her mother. "Are we there yet?"

"Almost," Lucy answered, just as Natsu let out another groan of discomfort from where he had his head rested in his wife's lap. Lucy smiled in sympathy at him, running her fingers gingerly through his hair. Despite her smile, her brow was furrowed in worry as she gazed at the numerous bandages and stitches that still covered Natsu's body. About a week or so ago he had been brutally attacked while on a job. He'd apparently been attacked from behind by some wizard that was able to transform his entire body to crystal that was not only immune to any and all of Natsu's attacks, but also was capable of draining the magic energy from any wizard he touched. Porlyusica had discovered that little tidbit of information as she was examining him when he was first carried back to Fairy Tail, unconcious, bleeding out, body contorted into all kinds of unnatural angles.

"If he wasn't so darn powerful to begin with he would have been kncoked out entirely within a second," Porlyusica had said when she sensed remenants of the crystal's power still on him. "His little 'friend' probably helped him out too."

Natsu would later debunk this, stating that for whatever reason E.N.D. had not made an appearance. For once, Lucy wished he would have, then maybe Natsu wouldn't be in this state. Porlyusica had done wonders for him but had suggested that they go see another healer in Crocus.

"Your back wasn't broken, by some miracle," she'd said. "But it was knocked completely out of line. Not to mention both of your legs have been shattered. You'll need extensive therapy to make a full recovery."

Hence, here they were, on their way to Crocus.

The train came presently came to a stop.

"Ladies and Gentlmen, we have no reached the Crocus Train Station."

"We're here!" Layla cheered.

"Finally," Nashi grumbled as she stood to her feet.

"Ooh! It's Uncle Sting and Uncle Rogue!" Igneel shouted as he pointed out the window.

"And Auntie Yukino and Auntie Minerva!" Layla added.

As the three children bounded out of their seats to leave the train car, Lucy turned to Natsu. He had his arms crossed, staring straight ahead, a defeated look on his face.

Lucy urged him to sit up, which he did, but the look on his face didn't change. Lucy sighed as she knealt in front of him and took one of his hands in hers.

"You're going to be okay," she promised.

"Hm," was the only reply she got back as Natsu kept his eyes lowered towards the floor.

She cupped his face in her hand. "This is only temporary. You'll be back on your feet before you know it. No pun intended."

That finally got a hint of a smile out of him, but it quickly faded.

Lucy stroked his cheek with her thumb. "We're going to find the guy who did this to you," she swore. "But first we've got to get you healed."

"If I ever get healed," he said.

"It's only been a week. No one is expecting you to just bounce back from this," Lucy said. "You were tossed out of an eight storied window for crying out loud! It's going to take you a while for you to heal. But you'll be as good as new soon."

"How soon?" Natsu asked.

"Before this one gets here I'll bet," Lucy said as she patted her still flat stomach where Dragneel Baby #4 was currently growing. Natsu finally lifted his gaze to look at his wife's abdomen. A small smile crept onto his face.

"Can I listen to 'em?" he asked softly.

Lucy stood up and guided her husband's face towards her stomach. Natsu wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his ear against her belly. A light _tha-thump, tha-thump, tha-thump_ greeted him. He closed his eyes and nuzzled into Lucy's belly, sighing in contentment as he listened to his baby's heartbeat.

"C'mon," Lucy said after a few moments. "Let's get out of here before the train starts moving again."

Natsu sighed. "Yeah. Okay," he leaned back, grumbling to himself as Lucy unfolded the wheelchair that had become his prison for the past week.

Lucy helped him shuffle into it, frowning in sympathy as she heard him groaning in discomfort. Having motion sickness and being stuck in a wheelchair had to be torturous! They slowly made their way out of the train to where the twin dragons and their wives were waiting.

"Show us that roar of yours big fella," Sting said as he ruffled Igneel's hair.

Igneel beamed as he took his position and brought his hands to his mouth. "Celestial Dragon Roar!"

A burst of sparkling golden magic that resembled a cyclone of stardust shot from the boy's mouth.

"Whoa!" Sting jumped back, eyes wide in over exagerated shock. "Look out Rogue, he's gonna blow us away!" Sting shouted as he wrapped an arm around Rogue and pretended to duck behind him.

"Please stop," Rogue mumbled.

"You're no fun," Sting hissed in a low whisper so that the children couldn't hear.

Igneel just giggled. "I'm the best Celestial Dragon Slayer that ever was!"

"You're the only Celestial Dragon Slayer that ever was," Nashi replied.

"And you're the only Titan Fire Wizard that ever was," Igneel snapped back.

"Touche," Nashi shrugged.

"Touche?" Minerva asked, an eyebrow arched. "Glad to see you kids got your mom's intellect."

"Hey!" Natsu called.

"Oh, look who it is," Minerva smirked. "Our favorite idiot."

"Watch it!" Natsu warned.

Minerva opened her mouth to say something, but Yukino stepped up to Natsu, a concerned look on her face and a small child on her hip.

"Are you alright?" Yukino asked.

"Eh, I've been better," Natsu shrugged before turning to the child in Yukino's arms with a smile. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Yes," Yukino smiled. "This is our Kari."

"Say 'hi' to your Uncle Natsu, Kari," Sting encouraged as he walked to his wife and daughter's side.

"H-hi," Kari said shyly before hiding her face against her mother's shoulder.

"She's gotten so big since we last saw her!" Lucy exclaimed, thinking back to the Grand Magic Games two years ago, when Kari had just been a baby. She'd been sick during the year after that's games, so she and Yukino had not attended. She looked just like her mother, only with her father's messy, blond hair.

"They've gotten big?" Sting asked as he gestured to the three Dragneel children. "Look at your three! Also, what's this I hear about a fourth baby on the way?"

Lucy smiled as she patted her abdomen. "I'm due in 6 and a half months!"

"Yeesh, all you two do is make babies," Minerva rolled her eyes.

"Oh, like you've got room to talk," Natsu scoffed, eyeing the large, navy, knee-legnth cape that Minerva had been wearing around her shoulders. "Don't act like we don't know what you're hiding under there.

Minerva smiled as she opened the cloak to reveal a nicely sized baby-bump. "Alright, you've got me."

Natsu just grinned as the turned to Rogue. "Was starting to wonder if you had it in you shadow-boy."

"Shut up," Rogue blushed as the adults laughed.

"What does Uncle Rogue have in him?" Layla asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah, what?" Igneel echoed.

"Uh…" Lucy shifted her eyes about. "We'll tell you kids when you're older."

Nashi arched her eyebrow. "Is it that thing where-"

"HEY! Why don't we go do something fun since we're here?" Lucy loudly suggested to cut her daughter off.

"Oh, there's a fair in town, Minerva and I could take you and the children there while the men unpack everything at the hotel," Yukino suggested.

"Yeah!" all of the children cheered.

"Wait, why do we have to do the unpacking?" Sting said.

"Because the pregnant lady said so," Minerva stated.

"No you didn't, Yukin-"

"I did now."

"Oh, you…"

"Sting, you won't win this one," Rogue said, glancing at his wife. "Trust me. I know."

The wizards began to head off to the hotel. Natsu grumbled as he held a hand to his mouth.

"Is the wheelchair making you sick, Daddy?" Layla asked, concern in her voice.

"Eh, I'm fine," Natsu lied.

"Will Cybele help?"

"You don't have to-"

But it was too late. Layla pulled out her keys and shouted: "Open, gate of the charriot: Cybele!"

A bright light shone, and a charriot pulled by two pink lion cubs appeared. Both of the cubs mewed as they pranced up to Natsu. He sighed. This was embarassing. He was supposed to be the one taking care of Layla not the other way around. Still, she'd already called Cybele out. He didn't want to make her feel bad, and his stomach really was ready to kill him. He shuffled out of the wheel chair and sat in the charriot behind Cybele.

"I wanna ride too!" Igneel shouted as he jumped in next to his father.

"Igneel, be careful!" Lucy scolded.

Natsu felt a small pang through his chest. He didn't want his son to feel like he had to tiptoe around him. He enjoyed and missed wrestling and rough-housing with his boy. Still, he smiled and pulled Igneel into his lap as Cybele began pulling them. Natsu wasn't sure why Cybele's chariot didn't bother him like other transportation. Maybe it had something to do with it being a spirit chariot. At the moment, he didn't care, though. He was just glad his stomach had stopped doing backflips.

They soon made their way to the hotel The twin dragons immediately went to unpacking, but the children all begged their mothers to bring them to the fair as they'd promised.

Lucy turned and looked at Natsu, who had by then pulled himself up onto the bed. He sighed and smiled at her.

"Go on, Luce. No need for you to stay cooped up here."

Lucy returned the smile as she walked to his side, leaned down, and kissed him.

"I'll be back soon," she promised.

"Sure thing."

After the children and women had left Sting asked:

"So, how you doing Natsu."

"Ugh!"

"That bad, huh?" Rouge stated.

"Ugh!" Natsu repeated, pulling a pillow ontop of his face. "I feel like I'm going to explode if I stay like this much longer.

"Well, hopefully that therapy you signed up for will get you back to your old self," Rogue said.

"It better," Natsu said, staring down at his legs, bound and wrapped in layers of bandages. His back began to ache and he shifted to lie down on his stomach to take pressure off of it.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something," Sting said.

"Hm?"

"So this guy that attacked you. You said he turned himself to crystal?"

"Yup."

"And those crystals drained your magic energy?"

"Yup."

"So...how come they didn't drain his magic energy too?"

"Huh?" Natsu arched an eyebrow.

"If the nature of these crystals is to eliminate magic," Rogue began explaining, "Then how is it possible a wizard to use magic upon it?"

"Huh, never though about it," Natsu said as he began to think about it. He quickly stopped worrying about it. "Eh, whatever. I don't care. Screw that guy!"

Sting and Rogue chuckled a bit.

"I suppose your sentiment is understandable," Rogue said.

"'Your sentiment is understandable?'" Sting mocked. "Sheesh, the guy's depressed enough. Do you have to talk like you're at a funeral?"

Rogue threw a throw pillow from the hotel couch at Sting, hitting him square in the face.

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

"I wanna ride the ferris wheel!" Layla begged as she jumped up and down excitedly and pointed to the said ride.

"Aw, but those make me dizzy!" Igneel whined.

"You don't have to go," Layla suggested.

"So, what? I'm just supposed to stand here and be bored!"

Nashi looked about the fair as her two younger siblings argued, searching for something else to do.

"C'mon, Igneel," she offered. "We can go play that shooting game while Layla and Mommy ride the ferris wheel."

"Okay!" Igneel cheered, taking his sister by the hand and heading towards the shooting game.

"Hey, you two wait up," Lucy said as she ran after them. Yukino began to follow, but Kari looked up at her.

"Can I go on the ferris wheel, too, Mama?"

"Oh, well-"

"Go on," Minerva said as she took Kari and Layla's hands. "I'll take these two on their ride."

"Thank you," Yukino smiled as she followed after Lucy, Nashi, and Igneel.

Nashi and Igneel quickly took their spots in line.

"Imma shoot all the duckies!" Igneel declared. "And then I'm gonna win that snake with the funny hat!"

"Sure, okay," Nashi said, sounding as if she didn't believe him.

"What?" Igneel asked, picking up on her tone.

"You can't even get your pee in the toilet half the time and you expect to shoot all the ducks in this game?"

"Wha-uh! That's not true!" Igneel protested.

"We share a bathroom," Nashi rolled her eyes.

"So," Igneel crossed his arms, pouting. "It's dark at night!"

"You're gross," Nashi shuddered.

"No, you're gross!"

Lucy shook her head as she found a bench to watch her two children from. Yukino sat down next to her.

"So, how have you been?" Yukino asked.

"Okay," Lucy answered.

"Really?" Yukino didn't look convinced.

Lucy sighed. "I'm fine. But Natsu...well...he's taken this hard. He's always taken pride in being able to take care of his family. Now that he can't do that right now it's...well...he doesn't like it."

"I see," Yukino nodded. "And it's stressful on you because you're not sure how to help."

"Exactly," Lucy nodded, setting a hand on her stomach. "The fact that we've got another one on the way isn't really helping. He just feels more pressure to get on his feet so he can get back to being a husband and dad, which is what we all want, but I don't want him to push himself too hard and get hurt again."

Yukino nodded, setting a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. "I understand that this is hard for you, but it will all be alright in the end, you'll see."

Lucy sighed. "Yeah."

"Excuse me, Ladies?"

Yukino and Lucy turned to see a woman with rainbow hair walking twards them, a tray of plastic cups in her hands.

"Would you mind to have a free sample of our Gushing Green Juice today?"

"Sure," Lucy said taking a cup off the tray.

"Thank you," Yukino said as she also took a cup. The woman smiled, nodded, and walked off.

"Aw, man!" Lucy turned to find Nashi and Igneel had made their way to the front of the line. Igneel, as per usual, had just gone in guns blazing (no pun intended) and had hit maybe three of the ten ducks.

"Sorry, lil'guy! Better luck next time!" the man running the game said.

"Can't I try again?" Igneel asked.

"You already had a turn, let me play," Nashi said, shoving her brother aside and picking up the gun.

 _Pop!_

 _Pop!_

 _Pop!_

The first three shots and three of the ducks were already down. Lucy smiled as she brought the cup to her lips. Before she could take a sip, though, Yukino asked.

"My, she's got good aim, doesn't she?"

"Yeah," Lucy said as Nashi shot down three other ducks. "She recently started practicing with Roman whenever they go over to the Fernandezes house."

"How have they been doing?" Yukino asked, taking a sip of her drink.

"Fine," Lucy said. "Roman got his first set or armor recently."

"Really?"

"Mm-hm."

"And what about the triplets."

"Well, Minette's been learning more and more Heavenly Body spells."

"She really is like Jellal, isn't she?"

Lucy chuckled. "I don't know that Jellal was ever that mischivous…"

"Sting and I heard that Natsu was going to start giving Von Fire Dragon Slayer lessons, is that true?" Yukino took aother sip of her drink.

"Yeah...well...that's been put on the back burner for n-"

" _Cough! Cough!"_

"Yukino, are you okay?" Lucy asked.

"Fine," Yukino said as she took the last sip of her drink. "Just got choked on someth- _cough!_ "

"Well, here, have mine," Lucy passed her still untouched cup to Yukino.

"Thank you," Yukino said, taking a large gulp.

"YOU WIN!"

Lucy turned back to find that Nashi had shot down all ten ducks.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Igneel grumbled.

"Pick a prize, little lady, any prize!"

Nashi examined the stacks of stuffed animals as Igneel pouted next to her. She grinned at her little brother before pointing to a stuffed snake in a sombrero and saying:

"Gimmee that one!"

Igneel gasped as the toy he'd pointed out was passed to his sister, and then passed to him.

"Here you go," Nashi said as she dropped the snake into his arms.

"You're the best big sister ever!" Igneel declared as he hugged his newly won toy to his chest. "Don't tell Layla I said that!"

Lucy chuckled and smiled at her children, hand still resting on her abdomen, wondering who this new little one would turn out to be.

Yukino began coughing next to her once again.

"Yukino, are you sure you're alri-"

Yukino fell onto her knees, covering her mouth as she coughed some more.

"Yukino?" Lucy asked, shocked as she knealt next to her friend. Her blood ran cold as she noticed blood seeping between Yukino's fingers.

"Yukino!?"

Yukino fell over onto her face and began shaking and convulsing.

"Help!" Lucy shouted. "Someone help!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:**

"Yukino, stay with me!" Lucy shouted as she shook her friend. "Keep your eyes open!"

"What's happening?"

Lucy looked up as Igneel and Nashi rushed to her side, concerned face.

"I...I don't know," Lucy said as she looked to her children, to Yukino, and back again. Yukino's eyes began to roll in the back of her head, her body shaking more violently.

" _Yukino?!"_ Lucy screeched.

"Does she need a healer?" Igneel asked.

"Yes, but-but-but I don't kn-Is there a healer around here? Hello! Is anyone a healer?" Lucy asked, almost begging.

"You think there's a healer back at the hotel?" Nashi asked, kneeling next to Yukino.

"I-I-I don't know," Lucy said. "There will be a first aid kit somewhere, but I don't know-"

"Okay," Nashi nodded, pulling Yukino's upper body into her lap. "Styx!"

A firey whirlpool burst to life under Nashi and Yukino and the two disappeared into it.

Lucy blinked, at first not registering what had happened. Once she'd had a second to think she scooped Igneel into her arms to race back to the ferris wheel. As she took off she stepped on something. Looking down she saw it was either her's or Yukino's cup. On a hunch she picked it up, shoved the crushed plastic into her pocket, and kept running.

Minerva, Layla, and Kari were just getting off when Lucy arrived, Minerva holding a girl by each of her hands. Their smiles immediately faded upon seeing Lucy.

"Something wrong?" Minerva asked.

Lucy nodded. "It's Yukino-"

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

"...then Orba fell off the bench-"

"What!?" Natsu shouted, fully engrossed in Rogue's tale of his last mission. "That loser!"

"He's still humiliated by it," Rogue chuckled.

"How'd he even fall?" Natsu asked.

"We're still trying to figure that out," Rogue said. "Rufus claims that he got his sandle strap stuck on a screw and tripped."

Natsu busted out laughing.

"Orba, however, claims that he was hit by an enemy shot...though there were no enemies near him."

"Yeah, no, I'm buying Rufus's side," Natsu laughed.

"So are the rest of us," Sting said, before his nose crinkled and he sniffed the air. "Hey, Natsu, what are you burning?"

"Nothing," Natsu answered, arching an eyebrow in confusion.

"Then why do I smell smok-"

 _Vwoom!_

A firey whirlpool appeared in the ceiling of the hotel room and two figures dropped through it. Nashi crashed to the empty bed next to the window first, Yukino landing next to her, body still contorted and shaking.

"Yukino?" Sting asked, rushing to his wife's side, eyes wide. "Yukino! What happened!?"

"I dunno," Nashi said, holding a hand to her forehead. "Igneel and I went to play the shooting game and when we came back she was like this."

 _Poof!_

Rogue disappeared into a shaddow and shot out of the room. Natsu fumbled through one of his bags for his communication lacrima, quickly calling the hospital.

Rogue returned, carrying a very starled looking teenage girl with dark skin and curly black hair with him. She gasped at the sight of Yukino, who was now foaming at the mouth.

"Oh, my!" she gasped, rushing to Yukino's side.

"She's a healing wizard from a guild overseas," Rogue explained. "I overheard her talking about how she came to Fiore to learn from our healers here while we were in the lobby."

"Name's Crishna," the girl answered as she held a hand out and placed it against Yukino's forehead. A cool, blue light began emitting from her palm.

"She's got some kind of poisoning," Crishna said. "I can keep it from doing more damage, but healing it is beyond my skill level. I'm sorry. I'm not very good at healing. That's why I came here to learn."

"I've got a team of healers from the hospital on their way," Natsu said. "Just keep her alive until they get here."

"Okay," Crishna nodded, frowning with focus.

Sting took Yukino's hand in his.

"Stay with me, Babe," he begged as they waited.

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

" _Yukino!"_ Minerva and Lucy both shouted out as they raced into the lobby of the hotel. Lucy carried Igneel on one hip and Kari on the other as Minerva dragged Layla by the hand.

Yukino was being carried out on a stretcher, half a dozen healers working in a frenzy around her, Sting racing alongside them, holding her hand.

"Mama!" Kari shouted from Lucy's arms, reaching her tiny arms out to her mother, tears in her eyes.

Sting heard her daughters voice and finally released Yukino's hand to race to her.

"Kari," he cried, taking her into his arms. "Are you okay?"

"Daddy, what wrong with Mama?" Kari whimpered, clinging to the front of Sting's shirt.

"I don't know, sweetie," Sting said as Yukino was lifted into an ambulance and taken away. Rogue appeared, pushing Natsu in his wheelchair as Nashi ran alongside them. Lucy quickly called a wagon to take them to the hospital.

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

"Yukino!" everyone shouted as they piled into the room where half a dozen healers were still working on her. Her eyes were closed. Her body still trembled. A mixture of blood and foam trickled from her mouth. Sweat coated her body.

"Yukino," Sting gasped as he collapsed on her knees by her side, Kari still in his arms, sobbing loudly.

"Did she eat or drink anything before she collapsed?" one of the healers asked, an older man with pale blue hair.

"Yes," Lucy fished through her pocket and pulled out the crushed cup. "We were given free samples of some sort of juice while at the fair today."

The older man took it from her and passed it to one of his assistants. "Go find out what was in this!"

"Right," the assistant ran off and the healer turned back to Lucy.

"Did you drink any of that stuff?"

"No, I-" Lucy gasped, clasping a hand to her mouth. "Oh, no!"

"Luce, you didn't drink it did you?" Natsu asked, voice a bit panicked.

"No," Lucy's eyes welled with tears. "Yukino began choking so I gave mine to her thinking it would help. I just gave her more of the poison didn't I?"

"We don't know for certain yet," the healer said, setting a hand on her shoulder. "We're not even sure those samples were what poisoned her. It's just a lead we're looking into."

"But she was fine until she drank that stuff," Lucy said, tears pouring down her cheeks. "I just thought I was helping and I was actually killing her!"

"It's not your fault, Luce," Natsu said, reaching up to take her hand.

"Of course it's not," the healer nodded. "You had enough foresight to keep the cup, too. Now we can atleast figure out what kind of poison may have been used on her."

"DOC!" the assistant screamed as she rushed back in.

"What is it?" the healer asked. The assistant held out a scrap of paper. The healer took it and his eyes grew wide.

"Are you sure?"

"All the other tests were negative!"

The healer stuffed the paper into his pocket and grabbed a communication device off the wall. "I need a magic neautralizer, a resuscitation kit, and an SE transfussion band in Ward G6 STAT!"

"What's going on?" Sting shouted, causing Kari to scream all the louder.

"She's suffering from Torbernite Potion Poisoning," the healer explained.

"What's that mean?" Sting asked.

"Torbernite Potion is an incredibly rare potion that causes ones magic energy to attack their own body. I'll have to neutralize all of her magic energy and then transfer another's magic energy into her body."

"What? How's that going to help?" Sting asked.

"Like I said," the healer explained as the kits were brought in. "Her magic energy is currently attacking her body. I have to neutralize it before it kills her. However, because the Torbernite Potion is still in her system if we simply allow her magic energy to return via the natural processes it will begin to attack her once again. We'll need to transfer magic energy from a healthy person into her so that the clean magic energy can fight against the infected one and hopefully save her."

"What do you mean hopefully?" Sting asked.

The healer's eyes darkened. "This potion was designed to assassinate some of the most powerful wizards to ever live. Those that made it took extra care to ensure that it was not survivable. Still, since we've caught it so early, she's got a fighting chance."

The healer pointed what looked like a giant gun at Yukino. Everyone backed away as he flipped the switch. Yukino lurched and cried out in pain as the device sucked all of the magic energy out of her. Glowing tendrils of light seaped out of her body and into the device. Once it was finally done she collapsed against the bed, sweating, gasping, but very, very, still.

"Okay," Sting said in a shaky voice, holding out his arm. "Hook me up."

"Do you have the same type of magic?" the healer asked.

"Erm...no…"

The healer shook his head. "Certain wizards can have an adverse reaction if a magic energy from a wizard who does not share their magic is transferred into them. It's rare that happens, but give her fragile state I'd rather not risk it."

"What about me?" Lucy asked. "I'm a Celestial Wizard same as her."

"But you're pregnant!" Natsu said. "What if this hurts the baby?"

"Can it hurt the baby?" Lucy asked.

The healer hissed through his teeth. "Should we accidentally take too much energy out of you it could cause harm to your unborn child."

"So what?" Sting shouted. "Yukino's dying! We've gotta do something!"

"But we can't risk our baby!" Natsu argued.

"What about me?" a soft voice asked.

Everyone turned to find Layla slowly shuffling forward. "I'm a Celestial Wizard too. Can my energy help?"

The healer swallowed as he smiled softly at her. "It can. But it hurts."

Layla gasped. "It does?"

"Only a little," the healer assured her. "But it is a bit painful."

Sting gritted his teeth. "Sure you can't use mine?"

"No, not with her in this state. It's too risky."

Layla rang her hands together as she looked at Yukino. Her breath was shallow. Her face was pale. She looked down at Kari, whose shoulders were wracking from choking sobs as she held her mother's hand.

"I'll do it," Layla said.

"Are you sure?" the healer asked.

Layla nodded and walked to Yukino's side.

"No, just let me," Lucy protested as she stepped forward, but Natsu held out his arm to stop her.

"You know you can't, Love," he said in a sad voice.

Lucy hung her head, defeated, a hand resting on her belly. It didn't quite seem fair; allowing one child to suffer for the sake of another. Still, this wouldn't kill Layla. It would just hurt.

Natsu rolled his chair to Yukino's bedside, swallowing down the vile taste the lurched at the back of his throat. He shook off his motion sickness and pulled Layla into his lap. She snuggled close against him, obviously scared, but trying to put on a brave face for everyone else.

"You're brave, Layla," Natsu whispered to her, kissing the top of her head. The healer hooked one end of the SE transfussion band to Yukino's arm. Layla held out her arm to allow him to strap the other end to her. He turned the valve. A golden glow emitted from Layla's end. She flenched and whimpered. Natsu held her close and stroked her hair.

"Sh," he whispered. "You'll be okay."

"Ouch," Layla cried, clinging to the front of Natsu's shirt.

"I know," he crooned rocking back and forth. "I know."

Lucy walked to her daughter's side and began patting her back as the band continued sucking the energy out of her and into Yukino. Layla sniffled and cried through it all, but never once asked for it to stop. She just clung to Natsu, burying her face in his chest as he rocked her. It wasn't a horrifically painful process. Just enoguh to be above simple discofort. Still, to a tiny five-year-old girl, it was torturous.

"There," the healer said after a few minutes as he flipped the valve off. "All done."

"There you go. You did it," Natsu said, setting a hand under her chin and tilting her face towards his, wiping her tears away. "I'm proud of you."

Lucy smiled softly as she pulled Layla into a hug. Igneel shuffled forward, holding out the snake stuffed animal that Nashi had won him.

"I think you need this more than I do," he said.

"Why's he wearing a funny hat?" Layla giggled as she took the toy into her arms.

"I dunno," Igneel shrugged.

Layla just hugged the stuffed animal. "He's squishy!"

As the two children talked the healer checked Yukino again.

"I've done all I can," he said after a while. "It's up to her now."

Sting nodded slowly, kneeling next to his wife again and taking her hand in his, storking her hair out of her face.

Lucy and Natsu watched him, brows furrowed in worry.

"Do you think Storm's Cleanse spell could help her?" Lucy asked.

"Worth a shot," Natsu shrugged. "We'll call Gray and Juvia when we get back to the room."

The healer turned to them, Sting, and Rogue. "In the meantime I think you should all start asking questions. This is an incredibly rare poison. People can't just get their hands on it willy-nilly. Most of the ingredients needed to brew a Torbernite Potion are illegal and can only be bought off the black market. Not to mention the brewing process itself is very complicated."

"So what you're saying is…" Sting's brow creased as anger began raging through him.

"This wasn't random," the healer confirmed. "Someone wanted her dead. And they went to great legnths to make sure there would be little to no chance for her survival."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:**

 **AN:** **Sorry it's taken me a while to get this up. I have been super bust with my internship and my computer crashed over the weekend. But, here it is! Enjoy!**

Lucy stood on the platform of the Crocus train station. The night wind whipped at her hair as she absentmindedly rubbed circles on her stomach. Her mind was both racing and blank at the same time. Yukino wasn't much better when she left. She was still unconcious, breath shallow, swapping between sweating and shivering every 30 minutes or so. They'd contacted the Corcus police, but so far nothing on who the perpetrator may have been.

It just didn't make sense. Yukino was one of the sweetest people Lucy knew. Who would want her dead?

 _And who wants me dead?_

Lucy looked down at her stomach, still flat despite the tiny life growing within it. Of course Lucy didn't want to die, but that wasn't what was scaring her.

"The train's late."

Lucy turned to Rogue who'd come to the station with her.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"If you want you can go back to the hotel, I'll stay and wait for them."

"No, I'm okay. Thanks again for coming with me," Lucy said.

"It's no bother," Rogue said. "Besides, seeing as you were also a target it's not safe for you to be anywhere alone."

"Right," Lucy said a hand resting on her belly. It was only by luck that she hadn't taken a sip of that drink.

"Are you alright?" Rogue asked.

"Of course I don't want to die," Lucy said. "But that's not what really scares me about the whole thing. It's...what would have happened to the baby had I taken that drink?"

"Don't ask yourself 'what if,'" Rogue advised. "You'll drive yourself insane."

"Right," Lucy nodded.

 _Toot! Toot!_

The train finally pulled into the station. It screeched to a stop and the doors slid opening, releasing a sea of people. Lucy stood on her toes to look through the crowd, searching for a familiar face. Finally she spotted a tall man with black hair, dark blue eyes, and wearing a shirt for once.

"Gray!" Lucy called, waving her hands above her head.

"Lucy!" Gray called, pushing through the crowd to give the girl he considered a sister a tight hug. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," Lucy nodded. "But...Yukino…"

Gray nodded solemnly but gave her a soft smile. "Don't worry. If anyone can help her it's Storm."

He gestured behind him to where Juvia was shuffling through the crowd, holding Bianca and Meeko by the hands. Storm walked along in front of her, but at seeing Lucy he rushed to her side, eyebrows furrowed in worry. "When can I see Aunt Yukino?"

"As soon as we get to the hospital," Lucy said, smiling, touched by the little boy's concern.

"So let's go!" Storm began to run off, but Juvia caught his arm.

"Hang out, we've got to wait for the other's to catch up," she said.

"Others?" Lucy asked, brow furrowed.

Gray grinned. "We called on a few friends to see if they can look into who might be behind this."

"Oh?" Lucy asked.

"Hello, Lucy," a familiar voice called from behind her. She turned to find-

"Jellal!"

"Good to see you're alright," Jellal said, the rest of Crime Sorciere filing up behind him.

"Who hurt my little sister!?" Sorano shouted. "I swear when I get my hands on them, I'm gonna-"

"We don't know," Gray said. "That's why we called you guys to figure it out."

"Oh, we'll figure it out," Sorano seethed. "And when we do-"

"We'll deal with that part when we get there," Jellal said. "First we must check on Yukino."

"Yeah, come on, we'll take you to her," Lucy said, gesturing with her arm.

"Wait for us!" another voice called.

Lucy turned to find Wendy running towards them, her seven-month-old daughter Isla in her arms and her husband Romeo behind her carrying their bags.

"Wendy?" Lucy asked.

"I heard about Yukino," Wendy explained. "I came to see if I could help."

She hung her head. "I know my magic isn't specialized specifically for removing poisons, or curse, or illnesses like Storm's Cleansing Spell is, but I had to come and at least try."

Lucy smiled and set a hand on Wendy's shoulder. "I understand. And I'm sure you'll be able to help her. Now let's go, the longer we wait hear the longer Yukino has to wait for help."

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

"Yukino!" Sorano shouted as she busted through the hospital wing door and raced to her sister's side. Yukino was still very pale and sweaty. Her face was contorted in a grimace of pain as she panted for breath and squirmed. Sting hovered over her, stroking her hair out of her face. The rest of the new arrivals gasped at the sight of her. They'd known she was in bad shape, but this was more than they were expecting.

"Oh," Sorano's bottom lip trembled as she took Yukino's hand in hers. "It's okay. It's okay, big sister's here."

"She's been getting worse the past hour," Sting said in a panicked voice. "I'm not sure if Layla's energy will be enough to fight this off."

The healer came back into the room and looked over Yukino. "Hm. Yes. Had your friend not already taken the children to bed I'd suggest taking another dose of energy from the little girl. But looks like we'll have to wait until morning. For now I don't know if there's anything we can do."

"That's your cue, Storm," Gray said, patting his son on the head. "Do your thing."

Storm nodded, a worried look on his face as her shuffled to Yukino's bedside.

"Another Celestial Wizard?" the healer asked, his brows furrowed. He did not like the idea of putting another young child through a painful magic energy transfusion.

"No, even better," Juvia beamed as Storm set a hand on Yukino's forehead.

He gasped and recoiled, shuttering.

"This isn't just poison is it?" he asked.

The healer shook his head. "No. It's a poison brewed using dark magic. But how did you know?"

"It feels different," Storm said, still shaking. "Sickness, poisons, and dark magic are a lot alike, but they all feel different. And this…" his voice lowered as he shuddered again. "...I think this is the worst I've felt."

"I'm not sure I understand…" the healer arched an eyebrow.

"Just do your best, darling," Juvia encouraged.

Storm nodded, looking a bit scared, and lifted his hands, holding them over Yukino, palms facing towards her. An orb of water appeared over her, slowly lowering until it spread out over her entire body.

"Cleanse," Storm said. The water began to ebb and flow over her, slowly sinking in through her pores. As about half of it disappeared into her Storm gasped.

"What's wrong, buddy?" Gray asked, setting a hand on his son's shoulder.

"It's fighting me!" Storm exclaimed, closing his eyes and forrowing his brow in concentration.

"Fighting you?" Gray's brow furrowed.

Storm nodded, forcing more of his water into Yukino's poisoned body.

"Every other time I've used Cleanse I just soak up whatever is hurting the person into my water and pull it out of them, but this stuff doesn't want to come out!"

"You mean you can't help!?" Sting shouted, face blanching.

"I...I'll do what I can, but I don't know," Storm said through clenched his teeth as the last of his water disappeared into Yukino. Storm began waving his hands over her, guiding his water through her, frown deepening with every second.

"C'mon!" he muttered. "Get out!"

He kept working for a few minutes more, face etched in concentration. Suddenly he let out a loud yelp of pain.

"OUCH!"

"Storm!?" Both Gray and Juvia asked, rushing towards their son.

Storm raised his hands and pulled his water out of Yukino. It was pitch black. The orb contorted, and arched, and twisted, almost as if it were a caged animal.

"Cleanse!" Storm shouted once again, only this time in a pained voice. The orb disappeared. Storm fell to his knees and held his head in his hands.

"Storm?" Juvia dropped to her knees next to her son. "Storm, are you alright?"

"My...my head…" he groaned.

"Incredible!" the healer gasped as he waked towards Storm. "I've read about the Cleanse spell, but I've never met a wizard that could perform it. And one so young, too!"

"But I hardly did anything," Storm said. "She's still got so much in her!"

The healer looked back at Yukino who, though still pale and clammy, was at least breathing at an even pace and wasn't squirming in pain.

"Maybe so, but you've bought her some comfort if nothing else," the healer stated. "You can try again later."

"Not if it's going to hurt him!" Juvia insisted.

The healer walked to Storms side and set a hand on his head. "I don't sense anything wrong, per say, I think he's just strained himself. Torbernite poison is serious stuff."

"Hm," Gray pondered as he turned and looked down at Storm. "We'll let him decide tomorrow. For tonight I think he's been through enough."

"Agreed," the healer nodded. "I think you all should go home, in fact. There's nothing more you can do for her tonight."

"I'm not leaving!" Sting shouted. "She's my wife, I'm not leaving her side."

"And she's my baby sister," Sorano added. "I'm not going anywhere either."

The healer sighed and nodded. "Yes, I understand, but the rest of you should go get some rest."

Slowly but surely the rest of the crowd began to file out of the room. Jellal walked to Sorano's side and set a hand on her shoulder.

"Take care of your sister. We'll find out who did this."

"You better," Sorano said weepily as she took Sorano's hand back in hers.

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

Natsu lay in his and Lucy's bed back at the hotel, staring up at the ceiling. He'd gone ahead and taken the kids home a little before Lucy went to meet the Fullbusters at the train station. Layla had already fallen asleep by the time they left, exhausted from the transfussion.

He stared at the ceiling fan making it's lazy circles through the air for a few seconds longer before forcing himself to sit up, against the protests of his aching back, so he could peer into the room across the hall from his opened door.

All three children were asleep, Layla and Nashi sharing a full sized bed. Layla had her ever faithful Molly-Dolly tucked under her arm and her thumb in her mouth. Nashi laid on her stomach, pink hair sprawled all over the pillow as she let one arm and one leg hand off the side of the bed, snoring softly. Igneel had a twin-sized bed all to himself, tangled in his blankets, bed sheets, and stuffed snake.

It was normal for Natsu to check on his children periodically though the night, but he was being a bit paranoid tonight. This was at least the fifth time he'd sat up to gaze into the next room. And they'd only been back at the hotel for about a hour.

A jingling came at the door. Natsu turned and let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding when Lucy walked in. Her head was hung. Her face solemn.

Natsu was almost afraid to ask, but he did anyways: "How's Yukino?"

Lucy shrugged. "A bit better I guess. That poison is nasty stuff."

"Storm couldn't help?"

"He did a little, but just a little." Lucy kicked off her shoes and sat down on the edge of the bed. She took a deep breath, though it did nothing to calm the beast of nerves gnawing at her stomach. Natsu reached out and took her hand, pressing a gentle kiss to her guild mark. Lucy shook her head to rid herself of the troubled thoughts racing through her mind. She turned to her husband and lifted the blankets to look at his legs.

"You need any bandages changed?" she asked, reaching to examine his broken limbs. Natsu caught her hand and pulled the blanket back over himself, shaking his head.

"No," he said in a soft but firm voice as he stared up at her, eyes cutting through her, letting her know that he knew what she was really doing. "Not tonight."

Lucy hung her head. "I don't want to talk about it, Natsu."

"Okay. Don't," Natsu shrugged before grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her against him. "But you're at least gonna let me hold you."

Lucy sighed as she relaxed into his embrace, pillowing her head on his chest where she could listen to his heartbeat. They said nothing for a long time. Lucy let her eyes flutter closed as Natsu rubbed her back. He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead before letting one of his hands tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and then travel to rest on her belly.

"How you feeling?" he asked.

Lucy just shrugged. "I'm not the one stuck in a wheelchair."

"And I ain't the one pregnant, so tell me how you're feeling."

Lucy shrugged again. "Fine I guess."

"No morning sickness it looks like."

"No. Just tired. But that may not be the pregnancy. Might just be keeping up with our other three."

"Hm," Natsu grinned. "Must be a girl."

"What makes you say that?" Lucy arched an eyebrow, finally opening her eyes.

"Igneel was the only one you got sick with," Natsu explained. "But you were constantly tired with the girls. Now you're tired but not sick again so it must be a girl."

Lucy shook her head. "It was only Nashi I got tired with. I hardly had any symptoms with Layla other than getting as big as a balloon."

Natsu shrugged. "I'm still saying it's a girl."

"You said they were all girls!" Lucy said.

"Nu-uh! I thought Igneel was gonna be a boy, and I was right."

"Only after I told you I thought he was a boy, though."

"Eh, I'd figured it out before then."

"Oh, sure," Lucy rolled her eyes. "Sure you did!"

Natsu let Lucy go and rolled her onto her back so her could lean down and kiss her stomach. He pillowed his head against her abdomen, listening to the baby's heartbeat. Lucy ran her figers through his hair. Though she was certainly enjoying this quiet moment with her husband and their unborn baby, she felt a bit guilty. Whiel she was here, Yukino was fighting for her life. Her husband was watching restlessly over her rather than snuggling with her in a warm bed. Their daughter was crying for her mother.

And it was only by luck she wasn't in that situation, or even worse. Yukino was barely hanging on. Had it been Lucy who had been poisoned, not Yukino, than the baby growing inside her would most definately have perished by now.

Though Lucy didn't know it, Natsu was thinking the same thing. Someone had tried to kill his wife, and by extension his baby. And there ws nothing he could do about. He was suddenly getting flashbacks to Nashi's birth, when there were people trying to take her away from him and Lucy and there had been nothing for him to do. This was worse, though. Even if Ivan, Jiemma, and Jose had gotten their hands on Nashi Natsu knew that he and the rest of Fairy Tail wouldn't have stopped until the got her back. This was different. This wasn't kidnapping. This was murder. Someone wanted to _kill_ Lucy.

And no one knew why…

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

"Alright, so what do we know?" Erik asked once he and the rest of Crime Sorciere had set up a temporary headquarters in their hotel room.

"Someone has attempted to murder Lucy and Yukino with Torbernite poisoning," Jellal answered. "And that's about it…"

"Oh, perfect," Erik rolled his eyes. Jellal ignored him as he picked up a stack of newspapers he'd collected from the Royal records. They had newspapers, magazines, any kind of written news stored within the records. The question now was combing through all of them to look for any hints of who may have been behind this. Thankfully they were able to narrow down some of it by asking specifically for any articles containing information Torbernite Poisoning. As Jellal began scanning the files he quickly became aware that these were mostly records of people being busted for selling recipes, or ingredients, or even bottles of Torbernite, but not actually using them on anyone. It seemed that Torbernite was one of those things the underground used for intimidation more than actual murders.

"Hm," Jellal's lips pursed together as he scanned over the records. Not even mob bosses actually used this stuff on their henchmen, only threaten to. Who in all of Earthland would use this on two innocent women?

"Um...Jellal…?" Meredy suddenly asked.

"Hm?" Jellal asked absent mindedly as he kept reading.

"Look at this…" Meredy siad in a scared voice as she handed him a newspaper clipping. Jellal's stomache immediately dropped as he read the headline S-Class Holy Hound Wizards Murdered." Jellal snatched it from Meredy and poured over it. "...Resiha Whiteday and Bernika Rilafille were both found murdered outside their guild hall. Both had traces of Torbernite poisoning in their systems. Following the deaths it was discovered that the women's children were missing. Authorities have offered an award for anyone who can provide information about the whereabouts and the condition of the children…"

"Jellal!" Richard ran forward, another news article in his hands.

"...Nalshe Mikagura, an S-Class from the Titan Nose guild was found dead from Torbernite Poisoning in her apartment. Mikagura was a single mother living in the apartment with her five month old daughter, who has since gone anyone has any information on the whereabouts of the child please contact the authorities…."

Jellal looked from Richard's article, to Meredy's article. All five of these victims: Lucy, Yukino, Reisha, Bernika, Nalshe. All of them were wizards. All were S-Calass. All were mothers. All were young. All were mothers. All were blond. All were attractive. All were attacked using Torbernite poisoning.

"What are you thinking?" Meredy asked.

Jellal shook his head. "I think we're dealing with a serial killer…."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

"Laxus! Laxus!"

Laxus opened his eyes, grumbling when he saw it was still dark out. Why was someone-

Wait, that was a man's voice. There were no men who lived in this house except him! Who was snooping around his house?

Laxus jolted straight up, straining his ears for any noise of any intruder.

"Mmm-axush…" Mirajane stirred slightly in the bed next to him as she turned towards him, with a bit difficulty given her rather large baby-bump.

"Go back to sleep," Laxus said, gently running a hand over her hair.

"What's wrong?" she asked with a small yawn.

"Just thought I heard something. It's probably nothing but I'll check it out anyways. You get some rest."

Laxus slipped out of the bed and headed out into the hallway. He knew he'd heard a voice, a male's voice, and seeing as he and Cato were the only two males who lived in this house that meant someone was lurking about. Of course he didn't tell Mirajane that. She didn't need to worry she needed rest. The baby was due any day now.

Laxus cautiously made his way to the livingroom and saw that the communication lacrima was on, Jellal's face shimmering within it.

"Laxus! There you-"

"Don't scare me like that you blue-haired freak!" Laxus scolded a bit louder than he meant to. "I thought someone had broken in!"

"I'm sorry, but there's something you must know-" Jellal said before going into the whole story. Laxus listened intently, brow furrowing deeper and deeper by the minute.

"Wait, wait, wait. You're telling me that there is a serial killer on the loose and that my wife could be the next person on their hit list?" Laxus asked in a half-concerned, half-enraged voice.

Jellal sighed from the other side of the communication lacrima. "As of now that's only a theory. But every victim thus far has been a woman, an S Class wizard, a mother, and has either had blond or white hair, all of which are qualities that Mirajane possesses."

Laxus gripped his hand into a fist, his brow grimacing into a deep frown.

"Erza told me of another woman who fits that description within your guild, a Reina Orlando I believe?" Jellal asked.

"Yeah, she came here from Phoenix Grave after her husband was locked up for beating her and her kids," Laxus said.

"Well, I'd keep an eye on her as well."

"She's not an S Class wizard in Fairy Tail yet, though," Laxus said. "I mean, she was back at her old guild but she has yet to pass our specific trials."

"Still," Jellal sighed. "The fact that she was once an S Class wizard may be enough to put her on this killer's radar. We still haven't found a possible motive or even a person of interest yet, so best to be cautious."

"Right," Laxus nodded, crossing his arms. "How are Lucy and Yukino?"

"Lucy is alright. Scared, but alright."

"And Yukino?"

Jellal sighed. "She's alive. Which is more than we can say for the other three victims."

"Tch," Laxus spat in anger. "Do I need to send someone down there to keep an eye on Lucy in case whoever this is tries to finish what they started?"

"That might be wise," Jellal nodded. "The Fullbisters and Conbolts are already here, but we can never be too safe."

"I'll send Freed, Bixslow, and Lisanna up there tomorrow."

"Very well. Take care of yourself and your family."

"Will do."

Jellal signed off and Laxus stood there, arms still crossed, jaw clenced, brow furrowed. Someone had just tried to kill one of his guildmates, and was possibly going to try and target his wife.

"Tch, whoever they are better hope Jellal gets to them before I do," he muttered to himself. Just then he heard a small sound. A sniffling sob. He turned and walked towards it. It was coming from Farrah's room. Laxus sighed. Of course she'd overheard. She was a dragon slayer, same as him. Her senses weren't quite as sharp as his yet, but they were strong enought that he should have known Jellal's late night cry would wake her too. Laxus carefully pushed the door open. Farrah was sitting on her bed, her knees pulled to her chest as she rested her head upon them and rocked back and forth.

"Farrah?" he asked softly as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

Farrah didn't pick her head up, but she did ask in a soft, scared voice:

"Is someone trying to kill Mama?"

Laxus sighed as he sat down next to her and set a hand on her back. "We don't know that for sure, kiddo. Your Uncle Jellal just wants us to play it safe."

Farrah shuddered. "He wouldn't call you in the middle fo the night if he didn't think there was a good chance of it. That means there probably is someone out there trying to-"

"But they won't," Laxus cut her off, setting a hand under her chin and turning her face towards him. Her blue eyes were red from crying, her face soaked with tears. Laxus used his thumb to wipe them away. "You really think I'd let someone take your Mama away from us?"

Farrah turned away from him again. "I know you'll do whatever you can but sometimes...sometimes we can't stop bad things from happening. Just like...just like...like…"

Farrah burst into tears again. Laxus' heart broke. He knew exactly what she was referring to. He pulled her into his lap and hugged her close, rocking her back and forth.

"I'm not going to let you lose another mother, Farrah. I'm going to keep your Mama, the baby, Cato, and you safe. Besides, Jellal and the rest of Crime Sorciere are working on the case as we speak. They'll get this sicko before too long and this whole thing will be over as quickly as it came up. Don't worry about it."

"But what about Aunt Lucy?"

"She's fine. Jut scared is all."

"And...Aunt Yukino…?"

Laxus sighed. "She's still pretty sick, but-"

"She's going to die, isn't she?"

"We don't know that. The healers, Storm, and Wendy are doing everything they can to help her."

"But I though Uncle Jellal said that they used Torbernite poisoning on her."

"Yeah, so?"

Farrah scooted out of his arms and walked to her rather large bookshelf, pulling out a rather large volume of "An Alchemist's Dictionary of Potions."

"I've read about Torbernite poisoning before. It's made specifically for killing wizards. Almost no one survives it."

"Almost no one. But Yukino's a toughie, she'll pull through."

Farrah stopped on a particular page and shook her head. "I don't know about that."

"You read too much, kiddo."

"You said two days ago you were glad I liked reading."

"Yeah, just wish you'd read a romance, or a fantasy every now and then instead of just morbid facts on death."

"Not all my facts or morbid, some of them are fun and interesting."

"Says the girl who owns literally own three volumes of 'Strange, Dark, and Morbid Magical Facts,'" Laxus said as he walked to the book shelf and pulled one of said volumes off the shelf.

Farrah snatched it from him and pointed to the cover. "It's aimed for ages 8 and up, so they can't be that morbid or dark."

"Whatever you say, Sparky," Laxus shrugged, before noticing something. "Why do you have a pamphlet on forbidden spells?"

"Uncle Freed leant it to me."

"You spend too much time with him."

"Aren't you on a team with him?"

"Don't sass me, young lady."

"I'm not sassing, I'm stating a fact. Besides, what's the big deal about a forbidden pamphelt when Mama's magic is called Satan's Soul?"

Laxus shrugged. "I just don't get your fascination with the dark and creepy, that's all."

Farrah shrugged. "I dunno."

Laxus smiled softly as he ruffled her hair. "Go back to sleep, kiddo. It's late."

He turned to walk out, but Farrah stopped him.

"Papa…"

"Hm?"

Farrah hung her head. "I...I just...I'm…"

Laxus knealt down to her level. "It's gonna be okay, sweetie."

"But-"

"It's gonna be okay."

Farrah jut stared at him, eyes brimmed with tears.

"Besides," Laxus continued. "The attack happened in Crocus, which means the killer is probably still there. They won't be able to get here tonight, so don't worry about it tonight."

Farrah nodded slowly. "Okay."

Laxus gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, then led her back to bed and tucked her in. He headed back to his own bedroom. Mirajane had drifted back to sleep, snoring softly. He sat down on his side of the bed, sighing deeply as he set his hand on her belly. He could feel the baby moving around inside her. Should he have felt hypocritical about telling Farrah not to worry when he was scared sick?

He lied down, pulled the blankets over him and then wrapped his arms around Mirajane, pulling her close to him.

No. There was no way that he would let anything happen to her. That killer was not going to get his or her hands on his wife or his baby.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Minerva hummed softly to herself as she slid a casserole into the oven and closed the door. She shuffled over to a chair and ran a hand over her belly. The baby was still for the moment, probably sleeping. She smiled softly, despite the events of the day. She'd never really pictured herself as a wife and mothe. She was always too focused on being the stongest, showing no weakness. Yet here she was, married to Rogue Cheeney of all people and now carrying their child.

Her smile soon faded though as her mind drifted back to the events of the day. Poor Yukino. Minerva sincerely hoped she'd pulled through. If she didn't…

...It would kill Sting. And poor little Kari. Minerva knew better than anyone what it was like to grow up without a mother. She pushed her thoughts aside as she flipped through her cook books. What could she fix to go along with the casserole to send Sting and Kari's way?

As Minerva flipped through the book she heard a small shuffling noise from the dining room.

"Huh?" she wondered as she looked up. "Rogue, is that you?"

No answer. Minerva frowned as she walked into the dining room. What was that?

As she stepped into the dining room she heard something from behind her. Before Minerva could even turn around she felt a sharp pain across her left arm. She whirled about. There was a figure dressed in all black standing right next to the door leading to the kitchen, a large knife in their hand. Minerva could feel a warm liguid trickling own her arm. She didn't even have to look to know it was blood. The figure lifted the knife again. Minerva teleported out of the way. The figure stumbled forward with their blade met with nothing. Minerva reappeared behind the figure, delivering a strong kick to the back of their head.

The figure stumbled forward a few steps, then whirled back around, swinging their knife towards Minerva again. Minerva leaned back just enough that the knife went over her. She let herself fall into another territory void, teleporting herself away once again. She popped back up behind the attacker, grabbed them by the top of the head and tried to jerk them towards the wall where she could pin them. Instead, she accidentally tore the hood off the attacker's head. A billowing cascade of red, yellow, green, blue, and purple streaked hair fell down the attackers back. They set a hand to the top of their head and then, realizing they'd been unmaksed, took of running. Minerva chased after them, stopping as they ran straight through the dining room wall.

"Denisty magic?" Minerva asked. That would explain how they were able to-

"AUGH!"

Minerva fell to her knees as her arm began burning. She looked down at it and gasped. Rather than blood coming from the gaping wound on her forearm, yellow foam was bubbling out of her arm. Her arm began spazzing and shaking uncontrollably, like it was being electrocuted. The edges of the wound began to blister and boil. Minerva's insides grew cold. She stumbled towards the livingroom and activated the communication lacrima, calling the hospital.

"Send someone quick!" she shouted. "Someone broke into my house and I think they just poisoned me!"

Her arm began to jerk up and down. She could feel an excruciating burn crawling from her forearm, to her elbow, to her shoulder. It would only be a matter of time before it spread to the rest of her body, and to her baby. Minerva gritted her teeth. No. She was not going to let the happen. She pulled herself to her feet, rushed back intot he kitchen and grabbed a meat cleaver from off the wall.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Lucy slowly opened her eyes as she heard someone pounding on the door. She sat up. It was still dark out, what on earth was-

Knock! Knock! Knock! "These are the Rune Knights! Open up!"

Lucy gasped as threw the blankets off herself.

"Rune knights?" Natsu asked as he sat up. "What are they doing here?"

"I don't know," Lucy said as she put on a bathrobe.

"What's going on?" Nashi's voice called out as she, Layla, and Igneel shuffled out of their room and into the hall.

"It's okay," Lucy assured them as she headed to the door. All three children watched her with worried eyes as they shuffled towards their parents bed where their father was still seated. Lucy reached for the door's handle and opened it up.

"Hezim!" she gasped as the green hair man met her gaze.

Without even thinking Natsu grabbed Nashi and snatched her close against him. It may have been nine years since Hezim's last and first attempt to steal Nashi away for "observations" but that didn't mean Natsu trusted him one bit.

"Mrs. Dragneel we have reason to believe you are in danger. Come with us," Hezim said matter-of-factly.

"In danger?" Lucy asked.

"We have been informed you were the target of a Torbernite Poisoning attempt alongside Yukino Eucliffe. And just a few minutes ago Minerva Cheney was attacked with the same poison at her home."

"Minerva!" Lucy gasped. "Is she okay?"

"She's in the hospital. Come with us and we'll take you to her."

Lucy nodded and rushed back inside to get the rest of her family ready. Within minutes they were whisked into the Rune Knight's carriage. Despite the torment going on in his belly, Natsu continued to keep a grip on Nashi, not letting her out of his sight or hold for a second as he glared at Hezim. Hezim made no attempt to speak to or even interact with Nashi, though. He just stared at her, eyes narrow, judgemental.

Nashi noticed his gaze and snuggled up closer against Natsu, trying to hide her face in his shirt. Being a Titan Fire wizard, the only Titan Fire wizard to ever exist, she had gotten this look from many people many times. It was a look of distrust. A reminder that she was different from everyone else. That to a good portion of the population she would always be considered dangerous or wrong. At this point she should have been used to it, but she wasn't.

Natsu sensed Nashi drawing closer against him. Figuring it was because Nashi had caught onto Hezim's accusing gaze Natsu held her closer and glowered in the commander's direction.

Layla shifted her gaze from Nashi, to Natsu, to Hezim, and back. She'd been watching intently from where she was seated next to her father. He shifted uneasily for a little while, then reached into her pocket and pulled out her keys. She held one up, then brought it to her mouth and began whispering to it.

Suddenly a red lamp, like a genie's lamp, appeared in front of Hezim. He blinked, for once caught completely off guard. A poof of read smoke appeared and a woman with red skin, red hair, and dressed in a red belly dancer's outfit appeared. She sauntered over to Hezim, leaned down, and whispered in his ear.

"Hi, Misbah here, I'm contracted to the little cutie over there, and she told me to tell you that if you don't stop giving her big sister dirty looks I'll have to smack you."

Hezim blnked again, startled as he turned and looked a the blond little girl staring at him with an indignant look on her face. He had half a mind to say something about how threatening an officer of the Rune Knights could land little girls into big trouble, then decided it was not worth it and turned to look back at his men.

"That's better," Misbah said. "Besides, you should stare at people anyways. Rude!"

And with that she disappeared. Layla put her keys back and then hugged her Molly Dolly to her chest. She was worried about Auntie Minerva. And Auntie Yukino. And Mommy. What if-

Before she could finish that thought she felt a weight on her shoulder. Igneel, who had been sitting next to her, hand fallen back asleep and had chosen to use her head as a pillow. Well, at least he didn't look too worried.

The rest of the carriage ride was silent. After what seemed like an excruciating wait they finally arrived at the hospital and the Rune knights escorted the Dragneel family inside. They were brough up to the same ward that Yukino was being kept in, only now Minerva was also there, lying on a cot, writhing in pain, a bloody kitchen towel rapped around her elbow. Sting and Sorano were by her side, trying their best to comfort her as Yukino was currently sleeping, looking peaceful for once. Lucy raced toward Minerva, gasping when she noticed that there was nothing below the elbow wrapped in the bloody cloth.

"Minerva!?" she screeched. "What happened to your-"

"AUGH!" Minerva shouted as she began trembling. "Where's Rogue?"

"On his way," Sorano promised. "He said he was only a few minutes out last we-"

"It would seem some of the poison made it way into the rest of your system before you took your arm," the same healer from before stated.

Took her own arm? Lucy thought. But why?

"What does that mean?" Minerva asked.

"It means you have acute Torbernite poisoning," the healer said.

"And she's pregnant!" the nurse said.

"Yes," the healer nodded slowly. "If it were just her I'd say as small as the dose is she might be able to fight it off. But with the baby-"

"Get it out!" Minerva shouted as her trembling increased. "Get it out now!"

"Neutralizing your magic energy is too risky given you-"

"Not the poison, the baby, get it out!" Minerva said.

"You do realize that to perform a caesarean section on you now would only weak your-"

"I don't care, get it out!" Minerva screamed.

The healer nodded and grabbed a lacrima. "I need an OR prepped, and STAT!"

The nurse began to wheel Minerva out of the room. Lucy and the rest of the Dragneels could only watch as she was taken out. Hezim followed after them, askign Minerva if she saw any defining features.

Lucy thought she could hear Minerva say something about rainbow hair.

Rainbow hair?

The woman who had given her and Yukino the sample drinks had rainbow hair…

Lucy began looking about the room. One of the nurses had left a pen and clipboard on the counter. Lucy grabbed the pen and then looked for somethign to draw on. All she found was a napkin next to an untouched tray of food that had no doubt been brought fro Sting and Sorano. She picked it up and began sketching on it. As she worked Rogue busted into the room, gasping for breath, sweating profusely.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"They just wheeled her off to surgery," Sting said. "Their going to do an emergency C-Section to get the baby out so it doesn't-"

"Where are they?" Rogue asked.

"I just told you," Sting sighed. "They're going into ope-"

"No," Rogue lifted his head, eyes blazing. "Where is the person who did this to her?"

"We don't know," Lucy said as she finished her sketch and stood up. "But she said whoever attacked her had rainbow hair. The woman who gave me and Yukino the poisoned samples also had rainbow hair. Here's a sketch of what she looked like," Lucy held the sketch out to Rogue. He took it and examined it.

"You're certain this is who gave you that drink?" he asked.

Lucy nodded. Rogue hadned the napkin back to her.

"Thank you," and with that he turned and left.

"Hey, pal, where do you think you're going?" Sting yelled after him. "Rogue come back! Rogue! Rogue!"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

Everyone stared at the door as Rogue raced outside. Silence overtook the room as Lucy, Natsu, Sting, and Sorano exchanged glances, worried and not quite sure how to react as Hezim and his Rune Knights filed back into the room.

"He's going to do something stupid, isn't he?" Sting finally asked after a long silent..

"You two," Hezim turned to a pair of his men. "Go after h-"

"That won't be necesary," a voice called as Jellal and the rest of Crime Sorciere walked in.

"Sawyer," Jellal turned to his friend.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it," Sawyer said before thaking off.

"You can't-" Hezim began, but Jellal cut him off.

"I already did," Jellal said."Besides, are any of your men actually capable of chasing down a Shadow Dragon Slayer?"

Jellal pushed passed the Rune Knights and walked to Natsu and Lucy. "I have some questions I need to ask you."

"Excuse me, but this is our investigation," Hezim called.

"You're welcome to listen in," Jellal shrugged.

"Exactly what authorization do you have to be investigating this matter?" Hezim asked, eyes narrowing.

"What authorization do you have to tell me I cannot investigate this matter?" Jellal didn't even turn to face the man and instead focused his attention on Natsu and Lucy.

"What is it?" Lucy asked.

"You were both attacked by a wizard who had the ability to turn his body to crystal, correct?" Jellal stated.

"Yeah," Natsu's eyes narrowed as he thought back to the man who had put him in this blasted wheelchair.

"Did the crystals look something like this?" Jellal pulled a book out of a pocket in his cloak and showed it to Natsu and Lucy.

"I don't know. He didn't use the crystals on me," Lucy said.

"Yeah, that's what they looked like," Natsu confirmed. The crystals were a dark green and jagged and pointed.

"These are Torbenite crystals. And as I'm sure you can guess from the name they are one of the main ingredients of torbernite poison," Jellal explained.

Natsu and Lucy both gasped. Sorano and Sting drew closer to Jellal, keenly interested.

"They're known as a magic cancelling agent," Jellal continued. "They neutralize magic energy around it. Because of that there have been multiple campaigns to destroy Torbernite crystals wherever they can be found, hence making them difficult and rare to find."

"If that's true than how could someone use magic to transform their arm into Torbernite crystals?" Lucy asked. "How can you use magic to make something that destroys magic?"

"It's most certainly odd," Jellal agreed. "None-the-less, it does seem a bit of an odd coincidence that Natsu was attacked with Torbernite crystal just a week before you, Yukino, and Minerva were attacked with Torbernite poisoning."

"But the man who attacked Natsu isn't the same person who offered the poison to me and Yukino," Lucy said. "It was a woman with rainbow hair. I had a drawing but Rogue took it."

"Hm," Jellal rubbed his chin. "Even still, in order to make this poison your attacker would have had to have gotten her hands on the crystals. It is possible that the man who attacked Natsu was her provider, or at the very least would have an idea of where she would have gotten the crystals from. I can't imagine there are many people who could get their hands on Torbernite Crystals."

"He got away, though," Natsu muttered in an angry voice. "So we have no clue where he is. And even if we did I don't think he would tell us anything."

"We know he's in the black market," Jellal said. "And since he possess such a a rare item no doubt he's popular in the illegal magical item trade. Surely we can figure out where he is if we ask around long enough."

"I'll start looking," Erik volunteered.

"Careful," Natsu said. "You can see what he did to me."

"Heh," Erik smirked. "I'm a Poison Dragon Slayer. I think I have a slight advantage over you. Besides, I'm a former member of the Oracion Seis. You're one of Fairy Tail's most prominent members. I think I'll fit into a shady crowd more than you will."

"Right," Natsu sighed, a bit peeved that Erik was going to get a chance to get back at the man before he did.

"I'll go with you," Richard offered.

"No thanks. The fewere of us there are the less attention we'll draw," Erik said. "Besides, someone's got to stay and help Jellal keep digging for clues."

"I'm still here, you know?" Meredy asked in an annoyed voice.

"Don't overwork yourself, kid," Erik patted Meredy on the head as he sauntered out.

"Hey!" Meredy protested as Erik left.

"Don't pay him mind. You'll only encourage him," Macbeth sighed as the door opened and a nurse stepped in. Everyone stared up at her, anxious for news.

"How is she?" Sting asked.

"Still unconcious," the nurse answered. "We've already neutralized her magic energy. We're currently looking for a transfusion match. Since her posioning is not as severe as Mrs. Eucliffe the transfussion is not as urgent."

"And the baby?" Sting asked.

The nurse smiled. "A little boy. Small, given he was born so early, but as healthy as he can be given the circumstances. Thankfully there are no signs of poisoning within him. I think we got to him just in time."

A sigh of relief fell over the room.

"Has anyone contacted the father?" the nurse asked.

"Um...well…" Meredy awkwardly scratched the back of her head as Jellal stepped out of the room, a communication lacrima in his hand.

A small whimper came from the corner of the room. Lucy and Natsu both turned to find their three children huddled in a corner. Layla's bottom lip trembled as she held her doll close, scooting towards Nashi who held a wide-eyed Igneel in her arms as she stared at both her parents, obviously terrified.

Lucy sighed as she walked towards them, kneeling down to their level.

"Is there anyway we can go back to the hotel?" Lucy asked Hezim.

"No. That place is not secured enough to keep you safe. We'll take you to a new hotel where we can keep an eye on you."

Natsu grumbled to himself. He did not like Hezim. He especially didn't like the idea of Hezim keeping a constant eye on him and his family. However, he knew why this was needed so he just crossed his arms and huffed to himself.

Lucy also sighed as she stood to her feet, set Layla on her hip and guided Nashi and Igneel back towards their father. Natsu held his arms out for Layla and Igneel, setting one child on each leg. Lucy pushed the wheelchair out of the room, Nashi following along behind them.

Hezim watched Nashi intently. He had not forgotten about her, despite the nine years that had passed since the catastrophe that was her entrance into the world. He still believed there was too much unknown about this child and her magic. She needed to be studied so that they could better prepare for any potential dangers that could arrive in the future should she decide to...misbehave.

Nashi could feel the man's gaze on her. She didn't look at him. She'd learned a while back that giving the judgemental her attention only fueled their prejudice. She instead hugged her arms around herself and followed along behind her mother. She kept her eyes fixed on Lucy, worry nagging at her stomach. She knew someone was trying to kill her Mommy, and she was scared. But she didn't know what to do.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Rogue stopped suddenly, stepping out of the shadows to look about. No sign of anyone with rainbow hair. His eyes narrowed. His jaw clenched. This little wench had to be around here somewhere. She couldn't have gotten that far so soon. He tried to run off again but felt a strong hand on his shoulder.

"There you are," Sawyer said.

"Let go of me," Rogue said as he shrugged Sawyer off and dove back into the shadows. He didn't get very far when he felt something run over him before grabbing him and jerking him out of the darkness.

"C'mon," Sawyer said as he tried to drag Rogue off.

"Let go!" Rogue shouted. "I have to find her!"

"You and a dozen other people, but running around like a chicken with your head cut off won't solve anything. I should know."

"She attacked my wife! She tried to kill her and our baby! I have to find her!" Rogue tried to turn to a shadow and slip off again, but Sawyer was too quick and caught him again.

"No, you should get back to the hospital and be by their side."

"What good is that going to do?" Rogue thundered twisting to get out of Sawyer's grip. "Minerva will just be unconcious, fighting for her life! I can't change that now!"

Tears began brimming Rogue's eyes. "I can only try and stop this monster from hurting everyone else. I can no longer help my wife now. My presence at the hospital will make no difference to Minerva! I can't-"

"But what about your son?" Sawyer asked. "You could take care of your son."

"Son?" Rogue asked, looking up at Sawyer. "I have a son?"

"Jellal called. They performed the c-section just in time," Sawyer explained. "You've got a healthy baby boy."

"Baby boy?" Rogue asked again, almost as if he didn't believe it.

"Yup. Now come on, dad," Sawyer set Rogue down and slapped him on the shoulder. "Let's get you back so you can meet your kid."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Jellal began flipping through yet another book, reading up on the other ingredients of Torbernite poisoning.

"Jellal?" Meredy asked as she walked up behind him.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Minerva has black hair."

"Always has."

"That means it's not just light haired women that this killer is going after…"

"I'm aware," Jellal nodded.

"So that means it's just S-class wizards who happen to be mothers…" Meredy continued.

"It would seem so," Jellal agreed as he closed the book and picked up another one.

"You...you realize what that means, right?" Meredy asked.

Jellal sighed as he set the book down, staring straight ahead. "Erza's a strong warrior. I have no reason to be worried about her."

"You say that," Meredy said. "But don't you think you should be a little concerned? Maybe at least warn her?"

"It's late," Jellal said. "She's probably asleep. I'll tell her in the morning. Right now she should be resting."

His voice was calm, but his heart was heavy. He knew that his wife was on the short list of next potential victims. He wanted more than anything but to run home to her. But he knew that the best way to keep her safe was to ensure this killer was found and locked away. Jellal picked the book up again and kept reading. A page boy walked in, carrying a stack of papers.

"Here's the information you asked for."

"Thank you," Jellal said as he set the book down and looked through the papers. They were a list of every woman in Fiore who had rainbow hair. Going through all of these was going to take a long time. Hopefully by the end of it, though, they'd have a short list of suspects. How many women with rainbow hair and density magic could there be?

Taking a deep breath he tried, in vain, to calm his nerves. At least whoever this was attacking women was still in Crocus. No way she'd get to Magnolia any time soon. Right?

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Nashi stared out her window, fear still gripping at her chest. Layla and Igneel had already fallen asleep in the king-sized bed next to her. Lucy and Natsu were asleep in the bed next to their's. Nashi sighed and sat up to look at her sleeping parents. She carefully slipped out of her bed and ran to her mother's side. Lucy was sound asleep, hands tucked under her head.

Nashi sighed. She was worried about her Mommy. She knew someone wanted to kill her and it scared her. Nashi held out a hand and whispered:

"Rhea."

A pink flame engulfed Lucy. At least now no one who wanted to hurt her could touch her without getting burned. It wasn't much but it was something. Nashi felt her throat getting tighter. She quickly slipped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her so that no one could hear or see her cry.

She was so scared! More scared than she had ever been in her whole life! She wished there was something she could do. Some way to make sure no one hurt her Mommy the way that they had hurt Yukino and Minerva.

"Nashi…"

Nashi picked her head up. Had someone just called her?

"Nashi…"

"H...hello?" Nashi asked as she wiped her eyes and looked about the bathroom. There was no one in here but her.

"Nashi…"

Nashi turned. The voice sounded like it was coming from the mirror. Nashi set her hands on the sink and stood on her toes.

"Hello?" she asked. This was stupid, there was no one-

"Hello, I am the Titaness Rhea."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six:

Nashi jumped and took two big steps back. Did she just hear that? As she squinted at the mirror she saw a figure appearing. A tall, thin woman with fuschia colored hair, red eyes, and dressed in flowing blush robes materialized behind her. Nashi gasped and whirled about.

"Sh," the woman knelt down to Nashi's level and set a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, I'm not here to hurt you?"

"Who are you!" Nashi shouted.

"Sh," The woman place a finger to her lips. "Like I said I'm the Titaness Rhea."

Nashi just stared up at the woman. "Rhea? Like the Rhea who created my Rhea flames?"

"Yes," Rhea smiled. "Exactly."

"But…" Nashi blinked, staring up at the woman, confused. "How are you here? I thought you were dead? If you're not dead how come I've never seen you before?"

"Oh you've seen me before, dear girl," Rhea smiled. "I appeared to you were you were little more than a babe to teach you how to cast my flames. From there you were able to learn the others on your own."

"But…" Nashi looked down at her hands. So...this strange woman had taught her to use her magic?

"But…"

"Why have you not seen me since?" Rhea asked.

Nashi nodded, looking back up at her.

Rhea gave a sad smile. "We've been keeping our distance, hoping to give you as close to a normal childhood as possible."

"We?" Nashi asked.

"Yes, all of us titans are trapped in a state of limbo, neither dead nor alive."

"That makes no sense," Nashi arched an eyebrow.

"I suppose it is confusing. Regardless, you are the only one who can see us. As you already stand out quite a bit thanks to your magic we thought it best for us to stay away until you were older."

"So I'm the only one who can see and talk to you?" Nashi crossed her arms. "Great! As if I wasn't already a big enough of a weirdo!"

A soft, warm hand set itself on Nashi's shoulder. She looked up to find Rhea staring down pitifully at her. "I know you've been mistreated, sweet girl. And I am deeply sorry. Unfortunately, as circumstances stand I have found it best to appear to you earlier than planned."

"Because of what happened to my Mommy?" Nashi asked.

Rhea nodded solemnly. "I'm not sure how much they told you, but the posion this killer is using is nothing to be trifled with…"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Rogue carefully pushed the door to Minerva's room open. His wife laid in bed, eyes closed, skin pale, one had set against her chest, the other hand….gone.

Her entire arm from the elbow down was gone. All she had was a stub wrapped in white bandages. Rogue felt his knees growing weak as he stumbled to Minerva's bedside. He took her one remaining hand in his, brought it to his face and sobbed. Minerva didn't respond. She kept her eyes closed as she just breathed, in and out, in and out, in and out. She was alive, that was all that mattered. Rogue kept telling himself that, still, her arm was gone. She was injured. She was poisoned.

And it had happened in their house. In their kitchen where Minerva always cooked meals for their guildmates. Cooking had always been a skill she enjoyed. While she was still with her father cooking had been her escape. Her kitchen was her sanctuary. And she had been attacked within it.

"Wah! Wah! Wah!"

Rogue picked his head up. On the other side of Minerva's bed was a bassinet. A tiny, tiny hand reached out of it, chubby fingers grasping for something, anything. Rogue wiped his face on the back of his hand and stood to his feet. He walked slowly, more like shuffled, to the bassinet and peered inside. The tears he'd just washed away came pouring from his eyes once again. In the bassinet was a little boy. He was tiny-so, so tiny- but he was crying, he was healthy, he was perfect. He stared up at rogue with giant, pale blue eyes. Rogue reached in and gently lifted the crying babe to his chest. He craddled the little boy close, kissing the top of his head.

"It's okay," he whispered. "It's okay. I'm here. Father's here. I've got you."

The baby continued to whimper as he nuzzled closer against his father's chest, grasping onto Rogue's shirt with his tiny hands. Rogue smiled softly as he watched him. He was so small!

A shudder ran through Rogue's body as his mind wandered back to the poison's effects on Yukino. Minerva, the strongest woman he knew, had lost her arm to it. How had this tiny child survived such a poisoning unscathed. His son was a fortunate child.

Fortunate...that reminde him of something.

"Rogue?"

Rogue turned to find Sting standing in the doorway of the room.

"Is she okay?" Sting asked.

Rogue looked back at his wife, still unconcious, and shook his head.

Sting sighed deeply as he walked in and looked down at his injured guildmate. It was had to tell which was worse off, Minerva or Yukino. Yukino seemed to be having a worse reaction to the poison, but Minerva had lost a limb. Neither would be the same once they recovered.

If they recovered.

Sting took a deep breath as he turned back to Rogue and then noticed the small babe craddled in his arms.

"Well, who's this handsome fellow?" Sting asked as he reached out and set a hand on the back of the baby's head, stroking his midnight black hair.

Rogue smiled down at his son. "This is Sachi," he answered.

"Sachi?" Sting asked.

Rogue nodded.

Sting smiled back at the baby. "Well, hi there, Sachi."

It was a fitting name for the little boy. It meant fortunate, which this child certainly was.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Wah! Wah! Wah!"

Wendy groaned as she opened her eyes. Isla was awake and crying in the bassinet next to hers and Romeo's bed. She sat up and stretched her arms before lifting her daughter out of the bassinet.

"Ish she 'kay?" Romeo asked next to her.

"She's fine," Wendy answered. "Go back to sleep, I've got it."

Wendy carried Isla to the balcony attached to her's and Romeo's hotel room. She sat down on a lounge chair and unbuttoned the top of her nightgown to feed Isla. She gently rubbed her daughter's back as she ate and leaned back in the chair, closing her eyes to relax as she listened to the crickets chirping, music coming playing in a club down the street, the water bubbling in the jacuzzi next to the pool below-

Screech! Screech! Screech!

Wendy picked her head up and looked around. That was a strange noise, yet it was one she knew she'd head before. Screech! Screech! Screech!

Is sounded like someone scraping up against a wall. Only inside the wall-

Wendy gasped.

Density magic! Someone was coming through the wall! There were only two people she knew of who had that kind of magic. Lorelle, who was still in Magnolia with the rest of Fairy Tail. And the kill-

A figure dressed in all black walked straight out of the wall of the hotel and onto balcony, a bloody knife in her hand.

"Sky Dragon Roar!" Wendy screeched as she jumped to her feet. Isla screamed in her mother's arms, frightened by the sudden noise and burst of air that exploded over her. The figure tured slightly translucent, the roar of air passing harmlessly through her and into the hotel room. Romeo let out a yelp from inside as the figure became solid again and began walking menacingly towards Wendy, holding the knife above her head. Isla began screaming all the louder.

"You stay away from me!" Wendy screamed before shouting "Sky dragon, wing attack!"

Again, the figure turned herself semi-translucent and the attack went straight through her, knocking the sliding door of the hotel off it's hinges, but leaving the attacker unharmed.

"No, stop!" Wendy screamed, holding Isla close to her. "Leave us alone!"

"Purple Flare!" Romeo's voice rang out. A purple flame in the shape of a hand burst out of the hotel room, reaching to grab the killer. She turned her body translucent again. This time, however, she let out a shriek of pain as Romeo's flame went through her. Wendy and Romeo shared a look. Even if Romeo couldn't grab this person his flames could apparently burn her.

"Purple Flare Net!" Romeo shouted. A net of purple fire wrapped around the figure. She didn't engage her magic at first, thereby getting cought in the fire. She yelped in pain before turning herself translucent. She stepped out of the net and then charged towards the wall framing in the left side of the balcony.

"Get back here!" Romeo screeched as he ran after the killer. She walked straight through the wall and Romeo collided right into it.

"Romeo!" Wendy said as she began walking to him. Well, she tried. Her legs had gone weak, her heartbeat pounding at lightning speed. Romeo whirled around, recovering from his head on collision with the wall, and ran to his wife and daughter.

"Are you okay?" he asked, cupping Wendy's face in his hands.

"I'm alright," Wendy said as she clung to Romeo with one arm and still held Isla with the other. "I'm alright."

Romeo held her close, burying his face in her hair, still shuddering from the sight he'd just witnessed. Isla still screamed in her mother's arms. Romeo let Wendy go and took Isla into is arms, kissing Isla's forehead.

"You're okay, baby. You're okay."

A chorus of terrified screams rang through the night, coming from the other side of the wall the killer had run through. Romeo and Wendy turned towards it.

"NO!" Wendy shouted as she jumped to her feet and ran back into the room and into the hallway. She ran to the room next door and began banging on the door. When no one answered it, she took a few steps back.

"Sky dragon roar!"

The wind blast knocked the door off the hinges. Wendy rushed inside.

Juvia laid on one of the two king-sized beds in the room, her entire torso covered in blood. Storm stood over her, tears rolling down his face as he tried desperately to cast his cleanse spell.

"C...Cleanse! Cleanse!" Strom sobbed.

Gray stood at the other side of the bed frantically looking about the room as he held her hand.

"Help! Someone help!" Gray screamed.

Juvia turned to him, gasping for breath.

"Gray, go!" she choked. "Go!"

Wendy ran to Juvia's side.

"Heal!" she shouted, holding her hands over Juvia's torso. She could now see three stab wounds to Juvia's stomach.

"Gray...Wendy's...here, go!" Juvia choked.

Gray nodded, leaned down, kissed her lips, and raced out of the room.

"Daddy, hurry!" Storm yelled.

Gray had barely zipped out of the room when Romeo walked in.

"What happened?" he asked.

"She came in here!" Wendy shouted. "She came in here and got Juvia after we chased her off."

"Meeko…" Juvia whispered as she began shivering. Wendy gulped and focused more on her healing spell. If Juvia was already shivering that meant the posion was already working.

"Meeko…" Juvia said again, tears running down her face.

"It's going to be okay, Juvia, just stay-" Wendy tried to comfort her, but Juvia shook her head.

"No," more tears fell. "She took Meeko. She took my baby boy…"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven:

"Everyone out of the way!" one of the healers shouted as they rolled Juvia out of the hotel and into an ambulance. Storm followed alongside his mother, tears still running down his face as he hopped into the back of the vehicle with her.

"It's okay, Mommy," he whimpered, putting a hand on his mother's forehead. "I'm here."

Juvia, despite being in excruciating, smiled up at him and set her hand over his. "I'll be alright, sweet boy, I'll be alright."

As the doors closed behind them Wendy began looking about her.

"Where is Bianca?" she asked in a panicked voice. Everyone stopped and looked about. There was no sign of the little girl anywhere!

"Scratch that," A Rune Knight with telepathy said. "We've got two kids MIA!"

Wendy held a hand to her mouth as she clutched Isla close against her. Bianca must have slipped out while she was attending to Juvia. How could she have been so stupid!?

"You two," Wendy turned to find Hezim approaching her and Romeo. He looked angry, it made Wendy uncomfortable. Maybe he was just worried.

"Come with me." Hezim said as he roughly set a hand on Wendy's back and began leading her away, Romeo following along behind her.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"MMMM EEKKOO!" Gray screamed as he ran through the streets. "Meeko! Meeko! Where are you!?"

The streets of Crocus were empty for once, but he still could spot any sign of Meeko or the killer anywhere.

No, no, no! Gray thought to himself as he kept running. "MEEKO!"

It had all happened so fast! All he could remember was he and Juvia going to bed. Sometime in the night Meeko had a nightmare and crawled into bed with them. After that he awoke to Juvia screaming and turned just in time to see a figure dressed in all black grab Meeko by the scruff of his shirt and the two disappeared through the floor, leaving Juvia bleeding and screaming upon the bed.

"Meeko!" Gray called again. "Meeko! Say something! Meeko!"

Clink!

Gray stopped and looked down. A tiny penguin made entirely of ice looked up at him from where it was pinned under his foot.

Meeko! Gray thought. Meeko's favorite animals were penguins. The ice penguin began waving it's flippers frantically. Gray lifted his foot. The penguin hopped to his feet and began pointing to a direction with it's flippers and then waddling off as quickly as it could. Gray followed after it. The penguin raced along the street, rounding a corner. Gray followed. The penguin stood waiting for him near a sewer drain. Once It saw Gray approaching it hopped down the drain. Gray followed after it. He squinted to see through the dark.

Just up ahead was the penguin, pointing down a particular drain. Gray rushed towards it and looked around the corner. There they were. The figure dressed in black struggling to carry a kicking and screaming Meeko over her shoulder.

Gray gritted his teeth as he rounded the corner.

"Ice make cannon!" he shouted. A cannon appeared in his hand and he shot a ball of ice at the woman. She whirled about, changing her body's density so that the ball went right through her. Meeko kept wiggling and fighting.

"Daddy! Help me!"

Gray bolted forward.

"YOU LET MY BOY GO!" he shouted.

From behind her mask the woman's eyes grew side. Gray didn't stop running to look down at himself but he could feel the familiar surge of demon-slayer magic crawling down his arm and up his neck.

"Meeko, shield!" Gray called before slamming the side of his fist into his other palm. "Ice make knife rain!"

"Ice make shield!" Meeko called, a small ice shield protecting him from the rain of sharp, blade like pieces of ice rained down on the killer. She changed the density of her body again. However, this time when the ice went through her it left bits of frost inside her that then began to grow and spread.

"Augh!" the woman dropped Meeko, the little boy hit the ground with an "oof!" and began running towards his father.

"Daddy!" Meeko cried, holding his arms out to Gray.

Gray bent down to catch him.

The woman disappeared through the ground, then reappeared behind Meeko, grabbing him by the waist and scooping him back up.

"No you don't!" she hissed.

"Lemmee go!" Meeko began wriggling about again.

"Get you filthy hands off him!" Gray shouted, more black splotches covering his face and chest. The killer's eyes grew all the wider. Gray thought she could see a shudder course through her body as she began to step back.

Gray lifted his arms to cast another spell.

A bright light blinded him. He blinked his eyes rapidly to adjust them and he saw a small figure with flowing white hair and glowing white eyes, she was dressed in a white robe and had a pair of white feathery wings sprouting from her back. In her hand she carried a curved horn.

"Heavenly judgement!" the figure said as she put the horn to her mouth and blew into it. A blast of sparkling light that looked like a cascade of millions of tiny diamonds shot towards the woman. Still blinded by the light, the killer didn't see the blast coming. It hit her right in the stomach, knocking her onto her back. Now free, Meeko raced towards his father.

"Freeze!" Gray said. Ice encased the killer, trapping her in place. Meeko jumped int Gray's arms and clung to him.

"D-D-D-Daddy!" Meeko sobbed into his father's shoulder.

"It's okay," Gray sighed in relief as the black patches disappeared from his skin. He collapsed to his knees as he held his son close, cradling the back of his head, rocking him back and forth. The feeling of Meeko's tiny arms tightening around his neck sent waves of relief through Gray. He gave his son another squeeze. He had his boy. Meeko was okay.

"It's okay, I've got you," Gray whispered as he buried his face in Meeko's hair. "I've got you."

The bright light began to fade. Gray looked up. The angelic figure disappeared behind a puff of white smoke and Bianca appeared, still dressed in her nightgown.

"Bianca," Gray called, holding his arm out to his daughter. He wasn't sure when she'd slipped out of the hotel room, or how she got here, but he was both grateful and proud she had the courage to help. She ran to him, setting a hand on her brother's head.

"Are you okay, Meeko?" she asked.

"Uh-huh," Meeko nodded as he began shivering. "But I...I...uh…"

"Meeko, what's wrong?" Gray asked, sensing that something was off. What had this woman done to his little boy before he got to him?

Meeko sniffled as he lifted his shirt. Over where his Fairy Tail mark was on his chest (in the exact same place where Gray's was) another mark had been placed. A black mark in the shape of a rising sun. Gray felt a surge of multiple emotions rising through him.

Confusion as to what this mark mean. Anger that someone would defile his son's Fairy Tail mark in such a way. Grief that his son had gone through such an ordeal.

"A guild mark?" Bianca asked. "But you're in Fairy Tail, not...well...whatever that is!"

"I didn't want to!" Meeko lamented as he sniffled. "She held me down and made me."

The black splotches began appearing on Gray's skin again. How dare this-

Screech! Screech!

Gray turned just in time to see the killer disappear through the floor. Not sure what her next move would be, Gray scooped both of his children into his arms and took off running. He wanted to fight her, to teach her a lesson for what she'd done and tried to do. But without her restrained and with his two children close by he knew it wasn't safe. His priority was to get his children out of danger. He could get his revenge later.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"What else did you see?" Hezim asked Wendy as she sat in a room with Romeo and Isla. They were somewhere in the hospital, but Wendy wasn't sure where. They minute they'd arrived Hezim had whisked her and her family into a small room and had begun interrogating er about the incident.

"I already told you what I saw," Wendy said in a quiet, frightened voice. "She was wearing a mask. I couldn't see her face."

"Did she have anything on her? Any weapons or marks that we could use to identify her."

"Just a knife."

"What did the knife look at?"

Wendy sighed, this was about the fifth time they'd been through this. "Just a knife."

"What did the knife look like?"

"Bloody."

"Did it have a straight edge, a serrated edge, was it curved?"

"I don't know."

"You were right there, how can you not know?" Hezim raised his voice, causing Wendy to flinch.

"I don't know. I…" her bottom lip began to quiver. "I wasn't paying attention. I was just trying to get her away from me and my baby."

"Think, Mrs. Conbolt," Hezim ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated. "There must be something else you saw. Think."

"I'm sorry, I'm trying," Wendy whimpered. "I just...it all happened so fast..I didn't..I couldn't…"

"She's told you everything she knows, leave her be!" Romeo stated.

"This monster has attacked six people, killing three, and your wife is one of only two witnesses. I need information from her and now!"

"I'm sorry," Wendy began crying. "I'm trying to remember...but I...I...I just can't…"

"That's enough of that," a firm voice came from the doorway. Everyone turned and Romeo and Wendy gasped.

"Laxus?"

The indicated Guild Master walked into the room and knelt down in front of Wendy. "You okay, kid?"

Wendy smiled and nodded, relieved to see her guildmaster here and amused that even though she was grown and married with a daughter Laxus still called her "kid."

"I'm alright," she said.

"Do you mind?" Hezim asked in an annoyed voice. "I'm in the middle of an interview here-"

"Yeah, I'll take over," Laxus said as he stood up.

"You can't do that!" Hezim shouted.

"Why not?"

"I'm conducting an investigation!"

"Yeah, well so am I," Laxus said. "I'd like to get my hands on this freak too."

"That won't be necessary. This isn't any of your concern, Sir," Hezim stated in an annoyed voice.

"She attacked three of my guild members, injuring one of them. Officially my concern," Laxus stated.

Hezim frowned and balled his hands into fists.

"You're not going to get anyone ragging on my wife all night anyways," Romeo stated. "Now can we please just sit in peace while we wait for an update from Juvia?"

Hezim took a deep breath to calm himself. "I'll be back in the morning. Hopefully you've calmed down and remembered something."

Hezim left and Wendy let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Laxus asked.

Wendy nodded and sniffled. "Yes. I'm fine, but...poor Juvia! And Meeko and Bianca are missing. And-"

"Easy," Laxus patted her shoulder. "They'll be okay. And we'll get this freak, just you wait."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Are you sure you want to do this?" the healer asked Storm as he hooked one end of the transfusion link to Juvia's arm. "It's going to hurt."

Storm nodded as he stared at his unconscious and shivering mother. "If it helps my Mommy."

The healer nodded as he hooked Storm up. He hated these transfusions, especially when children were involved. Worse yet was that this poor boy didn't seem to have anyone to comfort him. Not to mention the boy had kept casting Cleanse over his mother, despite the pain it had caused him, until they reached the hospital. His magic levels were already low and now he was about to drain what little was left to save the mother.

He was about to turn the transfusion on when the door creaked open. A very pregnant woman with white hair stepped in, a red-haired girl and a white-haired boy trailing along behind her. Storm turned to them and gasped.

"Aunt Mira? Farrah? Cato?"

Mirajane went straight to Storm, lowering herself to the floor despite her large belly, and pulling Storm into her arms. Storm buried his face in her shoulder and began sniffling.

"There, there," Mirajane began rocking him back and forth. "It's okay, Storm. It's okay. Sh."

The healer flipped the switch. The link began sucking magic energy out of Storm and into Juvia. Storm whimpered and clung tighter to Mirajane.

"I know, I know," she crooned as she smoothed his hair.

"Aunt Mira?" Storm asked, growing very tired.

"Yes?"

"Has my Daddy come back with-"

The door opened yet again. Gray walked in, Bianca and Meeko on either hip. At seeing his father, brother, and sister safe and sound Storm burst into tears. Gray set his two younger children down so that he could hold his firstborn.

"Storm," he whispered.

"Daddy…" Storm choked. "Daddy…"

"Sh, sh, sh," Gray crooned as he rocked his son back and forth.

"Is...Is Bianca and Meeko oka-" Storm cringed as the transfusion pulled more of his magic energy out of him. "Ouch!"

"They're okay," Gray said. "They're fine."

"Ouch," Storm whimpered again.

Gray patted the back of Storm's head. "You're alright," he assured him as Storm clung tighter around his neck.

Gray kept his eyes closed as he held Storm close. He wouldn't look at Juvia. He couldn't. Not while his children were in the room with him. He'd break down if he saw her now, he had to stay strong for the kids. Bianca and Meeko walked to their brother's side, hugging him as he continued crying in pain. Eventually he passed out from exhaustion from lack of magic energy. The healer took him off the link.

Mirajane took him, the two younger Fullbusters, and her own children out of the room, leaving Gray alone with his wife. Before she left. Mirajane gave Gray a comforting squeeze on his shoulder. The healer kept checking on Juvia as Grya finally found the courage to look at her.

She was pale, covered in a cold sweat, shivering, and unconscious. A strangled noise that sounded like someone getting the air punched out of him escaped Gray.

"We've put her into a medically induced coma to help her better rest and fight the poison," the healer explained. "Your son managed to work wonders, got rid of a good bit of the poison, but she's still got a rough road ahead."

Gray knew what 'rough road' meant. And he knew it cold lead one of two ways: life or death. He shakily stood to his feet and shuffled towards Juvia. He collapsed onto his knees once he reached her bedside. He wrapped his arms around her, burying his face into her neck.

"Ju-Juvia…" he whispered. "Juvia...hold on, please. Please, hang on. Don't leave me. Don't leave the kids."

He kissed her cheek. "Hold on."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Jellal?" Meredy asked as she watched her guild master race out of the room, two papers clasped in his hands.

Jellal didn't listen, he walked straight back to his own, private hotel room. He threw the door open, ran to his suitcase, threw it open and pulled out his communication lacrima. He activated it and nervously tapped his foot.

"Come on, come on, come on."

"Jellal?" Erza asked as she answer.

"Erza," Jellal answered.

"Jellal, I heard Laxus and Mirajane left for Crocus a few hours ago. How are thi-"

"Come to Crocus," Jellal said.

Erza frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Come to Crocus now, and bring the children with you."

"Why?" Erza's frown deepened. "What's going on."

Jellal sighed. There was no easy way to say this. "Beloved you and the children are in danger. And I need you close to me where Crime Sorciere and myself can keep you safe."

"In danger, how?" Ezra asked. "And why? What do you mean the children are danger?"

"There's a serial killer targeting mothers who are also wizards and kidnapping their children-"

"WHAT!?" Erza requipped into her purgatory armor. "I'd' like to see anyone try and take our little ones from me!"

"Erza, please," Jellal said. "Just come to Crocus. Myself and the others can keep you and the children safe, just come as soon as possible."

"Who is this killer?" Erza asked."And what does she want?"

Jellal looked at one of the two papers in his hands. "Her name Elena Alteria. AS for her motivation...We're still working on that one."

He looked at the other paper, a list of common traits all the victims had. Blond hair had been scratched out, and now S-Class. Neither Juvia nor Wendy were S-Class wizards, yet both had been attacked in the same night. And the killer had taken Meeko. But for what?

That was the question driving Jellal mental.

For what?


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight:

"Requip!" Roman Fernandez squeezed his eyes closed as a wide-brimmed, cone-shaped black hat appeared on his head.

"No! No! No! The whole thing!" Roman stamped hsi foot as he closed his eyes and focused again. "Requip!"

The hat disappeared and a circular, red shield with the Fairy Tail emblem in the center and a sharp edge all along it appeared in his hands.

"NOOOO!" Roman began jumping up and down in frustration. "The whole thing! Why is this so-"

"It's a bit more complicated requipping an entire set of armor than just one or two weapons."

"Mommy!" Roman dropped the shield, sending it back into it's dimensional pocket as he turned to face his mother. Erza walked towards her son as he nervously twisted his hands together.

"You...eh-heh...you saw that, huh?" he asked bashfully.

"I did," Erza nodded.

"Aw," Roman's head dropped all the lower. "I'm trying! I just can't get it all to come-"

"It's alright, Roman," Erza said as she ruffled his hair. "When requipping a weapon you only have to focus on one object at a time. With armor it's a bit more complicated. There are multiple pieces that must go to their exact place at the exact same time. There are some wizards who are never able to properly requip armor. It's going to take a little time for you to get the hang of it."

"But I've been practicing everyday since I got it and I still can't get it to work!"

"As I said, it's going to take time. Not to mention this armor is a bit heavier than most. I'll admit I was a little wary letting you have the Fusegu armor as your first set," Erza said as she thought back to the first time she'd spotted the set. With it's blade-edged shiled, wide, black iron hat, it's black chain mail robe, and the iron arm and shin guards. It was a heavy set to say the least, but there was good reason for that.

"So why did you?" Roman asked, genuinely curious.

"Because it's protective in nature," Erza answered plainly as she pinched Roman's cheek. "I want to make sure my little warrior is safe out there in this big, scary world."

"Mommy! Stop!" Roman begged. Erza chuckled as she let go and Roman frowned up at her while rubbing his cheek. She then let out a deep sigh.

"Just keep practicing. Now come on, I'm afraid we have to get packed."

"For what?" Roman asked as he followed along behind his mother to the house.

"We're going to join your father in Crocus," Erza answered.

"Why is that?"

"Because-AUGH!" Erza let out a shriek as she darted towards the house. "What did I tell you three about climbing on the roof!"

"Oh, good grief!" Roman face-palmed as he watched his mother climb ontop of the roof to fetch his younger siblings down from it.

"We were having a tea party!" Eva insisted.

"On the roof!?" Erza shrieked.

"Yeah, because Von's dirty socks made our room stinky," Minette answered.

"Uh-uh! Those were your dirty socks!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Elena Alteria," Meredy read off the biography that Jellal had found in the stack of women with rainbow hair. She was seated in a room of the hospital with Sting, Rogue who was holding baby Sachi in his arms, Gray, Wendy who was holding Isla, Romeo, Laxus, Mirajane, Natsu, and Lucy.

"She's a very powerful wizard. Density magic is her primary magic type, but she's also able to use a bit of telepathy and solid script. Her personal life is...complicated…"

"Complicated?" Laxus asked. "How so?"

"Well, she's been married five different times, engaged seven times, and she been a member of eight different guilds."

"EIGHT!?" Everyone in the room asked.

"Yup," Meredy nodded. "As of now she's still officially a member of Gramlush, but her guild master reported her missing nearly a year ago. The case was never closed."

"So...she's still a missing person?" Lucy asked.

"Technically," Meredy nodded.

"So why is she trying to kill us?" Wendy asked. "And taking our babies?"

"We...don't know yet," Meredy answered.

"What do you mean you don't know!" Gray shouted.

"We're still going through her very messy background, but so far we haven't been able to come up with a motive," Meredy said.

"How are you 'going through it?'" Sting asked.

"Richard is going to talk to the guild master of Gramlush. Sawyer is talking to Titan Nose, the guild she was a part of before she joined Gramlush, and Macbeth is talking to Phoenix Grave-"

"Phoenix Grave?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah, the first guild she joined. Jellal told me they and Fairy Tail have had a bit of a messy history…"

"That's one way to put it," Laxus scoffed.

"Do we know where we can find any of her ex-husbands?" Mirajane asked. "Maybe they could give us some-oh!" She cringed and put a hand to her side.

"Mira?" Laxus asked in a concerned voice.

"I'm fine," she answered. "Just cramping a bit. And, no, it's not a contraction."

"I told you to stay-"

"And I told you that wasn't going to happen. I'm fine," Mirajane insisted before turning back to Meredy. "So, do we know of her ex-husbands?"

"Not yet," Meredy stated. "We've still got to get permission to look at those files."

The communication lacrima on the table in the room began to activate. Meredy walked over to it just as Erik's face materialized.

"Erik! Did you learn anything?"

"Yeah, apparently there's a trade rink in the black market who's boss brags about begin able to find and sell Torbernite crystals."

"Hey, that's the same name as the poison the killer is using!" Natsu exclaimed.

"That's because Torbernite crystals are a major ingredient in Torbernite poisoning, you bonehead!" Gray sighed.

"So," Meredy continued. "Do they actually seel those crystals or are they just bragging?"

"Can't say for certain, though there have been reports of a rainbow haired woman frequenting this particular ring's booths at several black markets. And she's recently been seen carrying a baby or two with her."

"So she's not killing the babies she's kidnapping," Wendy sighed.

"That's good to know, but we still don't know why she's taking them in the first place," Gray said as he frowned at the floor. "Though I might have a clue."

"Huh?" Everyone turned to face him.

"When I got Meeko back he had a mark over his Fairy Tail mark. It looked like a sunrise, but it was all black."

"Hm…" Meredy looked through her papers. "Like this?"

"Yeah!" Gray pointed to the mark Meredy was pointing to at the corner of one of the papers. "That's it!"

"It's the Alteria family crest," Meredy said in a pondering voice. "I guess we'll have to look more into it."

"I've managed to track down one of the sellers for the ring she's working with," Erik called from the lacrima. "I wanna go check it out but I'd appreciate some back up."

"I'll go," Gray volunteered as he stood up.

"Me too," Sting offered.

"Same," Laxus also stood.

"Alright, I'll meet you guys at the arena. We can go from there."

"Right," the three volunteers nodded as Erik signed off.

Natsu huffed as he leaned back against his seat. He wanted to go too, but without being able to walk he wouldn't have been of much help. Lucy sighed as she checked the time.

"Come on," she said to her husband. "Your appointment's in thirty minutes. We better get going."

"Yeah…" Natsu sighed.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Jellal watched as the train pulled into the station. The doors to the cars slid opened and a throng of people filed out. Jellal stood on his toes as he peered through the crowd.

Please be okay, he though to himself. Please make it safe!

Then he saw it. A head of scarlet red hair. He pushed his way through the sea of people, walking straight towards his wife.

Erza spotted him, smiling as she let down the handle to the massive cart of luggage she'd dragged with her and held her arms open. Jellal dove into them, lifting her off her feet and holding her close.

"You're okay," he sighed.

"You expected anything less?" Erza asked.

Jellal chuckled. "No. It's just relieving to see you."

He set her down and was immediately tackled by the triplets, all screaming "Daddy!" as they all crashed to the ground.

"Oof! I'm glad to see you all safe, too," Jellal chuckled as he held his three youngest close.

"Do you three always have to cause a ruckus?" Roman sighed as he face-palmed yet again.

Jellal smiled as he sat up and hugged his eldest. "Glad to see you too, Roman."

"So, what is the situation" Erza asked.

Jellal sighed as he stood up. She was wearing her all-business face. He knew she wanted all of the details. He just wish he had all of them to give her.

"I'll tell you when there aren't little ears around," he told his wife as he gave her a small peck.

Erza nodded. "Understood. By expect to hear a thorough explanation of all of this the minute we're alone."

"Understood," Jellal nodded as he took her hand in his and led her and their children away.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine:

"Alright," Lucy said as she set Igneel down at the children's play area in the bottom floor of the hospital. She then turned to her older two. "We're going to Daddy's doctor's appointment. You three stay here with Auntie Mira until we get back."

"Okay," Layla nodded, smiling as she skipped off with her doll tucked under her arm.

"WEEEE!" Igneel cheered as he ran and jumped head first into a ball pit.

"Pfft! That was a wimpy cannonball!" Meeko shouted as he and his brother and sister made their way to the play area.

"Oh, yeah?" Igneel shouted as he popped his head out of the balls. "Let's see you do a better one!"

"Okay," Meeko said as he got a running start and diving in. "That's how you do a cannonball!" He declared as he popped his head back out.

"Oh, yeah?" Igneel climbed out of the ball pit, took a few steps back, and got another running start to jump into the pit.

"Hey, Bianca?" Layla asked as she walked to her older friend's side, who had a toy purse thrown over her shoulder.

"Yeah?" Bianca asked.

"Can we play tea party?" Layla pointed to a table with a mix-matched set of play food on it. "All the stuff's right there!"

"Sure," Bianca reached into her purse and pulled out four mini stuffed animals, a bear, a kitty, a bird, and a bunny. "I don't have any dress-up stuff though."

"That's okay," Layla said, "I can call Fyllo."

Layla pulled out her keys. "Open, gate of the rose, Fyllo!"

A woman whose hair, dress, and shoes were all made of roses. The spirit waved her hand and flower crowns appeared on both girls, Layla's doll, and even the mini stuffed animals. One even popped up on Nashi's head, but rather than cheering, she glumly set it on the table and walked to a chair in the corner to sit.

"You not gonna play, Nashi?" Layla asked.

"No," Nashi answered.

"Why not?"

"Don't feel like it."

"But why?"

"I just don't."

"But why just don't you."

"Leave big sissy alone, Cutie," Fyllo said as she patted Layla on the head. "Just call Birdie to take her crown after I've gone back."

"Okay," Layla sighed as Fyllo disappeared.

"Open, gate of the little dog, Birdie!"

A yellow canis minora appeared, Layla dropped Nashi's crown on his head, and he hopped up on the table to begin the game.

Nashi watched on, but she wasn't in the mood to play. Storm shuffled his way towards her and sat down on the floor next to her, looking about as glum as she was.

"Hey," she whispered to him.

"Eh," was the only response she got.

Lucy watched her children as well as the Fullbusters with a concerned look in her eyes. The younger three still seemed mostly oblivious to the whole situation. Layla, Igneel, and Meeko were playing as they always had. Bianca seemed normal enough, but Lucy knew her well enough to know the little girl could be hard to read sometimes. Even as a toddler she was a bit reserved, same as her father. Bianca could be as oblivious to the direness of the situation as her younger brother, or she could be aware of everything and was just putting on a brave face to the world.

Storm and Nashi clearly knew something was wrong, though.

"Alright."

Lucy turned to find Mirajane shuffling her way into the play area with Cato and Farrah by her sides, a hand on her belly.

"Cato, why don't you go play with Storm and Nashi?" Mira suggested to her son as Farrah pulled up a chair for her mother to sit on. Cato skipped his way to his friends, causing Lucy to smile a little bit. Well, at least they had Cato to talk to now. Despite looking like his father, Cato had his mother's heart and comforting presence.

"Go on and take care of Natsu, Lucy," Mira said as she cradled her baby bump.

"Okay, thanks," Lucy smiled as she walked to join Natsu in the waiting room on the physical therapy floor.

As she walked off the Fernandez family happened by.

"Hi, guys!" Mirajane waved.

"Hello," Erza waved back.

Jellal set a hand on Erza's shoulder. "Erza, why don't you stay here with Mira and the children?"

"You're joking right now, right?" Erza said, eyes blaring. "There is a killer out there slaying mothers and stealing children and you want me, Erza Scarlet-Fernandez, a Fairy Tail S-Class wizard, to stay behind on the sidelines!?"

"Sh! No, and sh," Jellal answered, gesturing his head to their now frightened looking children.

Erza immediately regretted her outburst. Oh, she didn't regret giving her husband a piece of her mind, but she regretted saying it loud enough for the children to hear.

"No, I want you here to protect the children," Jellal answered. "Nearly every other able-bodied wizard we have at our disposal is on some mission. We need someone here to guard the children incase Elena tries to sneak off with one while everyone's out. Besides…"

Jellal stopped and turned to his children. "You four go on and play now."

"Yes, Daddy," all four Fernandez children said as they started to the play area.

"And behave!" Jellal pointed a warning finger to each of the triplets before pulling Erza aside, out of earshot of everyone else.

"And besides," he continued. "Mirajane is heavily pregnant. She could give birth any day now. Despite being an S class wizard, and an immensely powerful one at that, she's at a horrible disadvantage. If Elena is smart, and clearly she is, Mirajane will be her next target. As things stand right now the only people she has protecting her are the children. We need someone else here."

Erza nodded slowly. "Understood. But you better keep me posted!"

"Of course," Jellal smiled as he gave Erza a quick peck goodbye and left. While the rest of Crime Sorciere was tracking down Elena's old guild mates, minus Erik who was infiltrating one of her suppliers, Jellal was going to speak to the Magic Council.

Erza made her way into the play area and sat down in a chair next to Mirajane. As she did Roman made his way to his three playmates in the corner.

"Hey, Roman's here!" Cato cheered. "All we're missing is Persephone and Koree and we'll have the whole Birthday Gang together."

"Eh," was all that Nashi and Storm had to say.

"Are you guys okay?" Roman asked.

"No," Storm answered, drawing his knees up to his chest.

"What's wrong?" Roman wondered.

Storm sniffled and rubbed his face on the back of his hand. "Someone tried to kill my Mommy. Now she's really hurt and sick and...and…"

"Oh," Roman nodded and plopped down in the floor in front of Storm, flashing back to when his mother was in a coma after the triplets rather traumatic birth. He set a hand on Roman's shoulder. "It'll be okay. I'm sure she'll get better."

Storm sniffed. "I dunno. She's really sick. I've already used Cleanse on this poison twice now and it just...it's really bad, guys."

"Hm," Nashi nodded in sympathy but said nothing else. Her mind was on what Rhea had said earlier.

"This killer seems to have an interest in the children of S Class. Seeing as you are not only the daughter of an S Class wizard, but also have an exceptionally rare type of magic I fear you and your family will have an extra target on your backs. Be careful. The other titans and I will be keeping an eye out for you. Don't hesitate to call us."

"You okay, Nashi?" Cato asked.

Nashi shrugged. " 'm okay."

"Really?" Cato didn't look convinced.

Nashi nodded. "Yeah I guess I just…" she tried to come up with an excuse for her glum mood. "I...er...I miss Koree and Persephone."

"Yeah," Cato nodded, still not quite believing Nashi, but deciding to go along for now. Besides, he missed the Redfox twins too. "I wish they were here t-"

"Guys?"

Nashi, Cato, Storm, and Roman all jumped.

"Was th-" Storm began when the voice came again.

"Guys, it's Persephone, can you hear me?"

"Persephone, where are you?" Cato asked. "How can we hear you?"

"Koree and I are on the way to the Blue Pegasus Guild Hall," Persephone answered. "And you can hear me because I used my archive to set up a telepathic link between all of us on the Birthday Gang."

"When did you do that!?" Nashi exclaimed.

"And why are you going to Blue Pegasus?" Roman asked.

"Someone attacked our Mom!" Persephone answered. "And she's going to Blue Pegasus to get Aunt Sherry and Aunt Jenny!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Nashi, Cato, Storm, and Roman all gasped.

"She got Aunt Levy too!?" Storm screeched.

"Is she okay!?" Cato asked.

"Yeah," Persephone answered. "Koree and I were able to save her just in time-"

The rest of the Birthday Gang gasped as a set of memories suddenly appeared in their minds.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

They were inside Koree and Persephone's bedroom. A set of Archive Screens were in front of them. Clearly they were seeing from Persephone's persepective as a hand reach out and began typing in all kinds of codes and equations onto the screens.

Koree was lying on her back on the bed across from Persephone, kicking her legs in the air as she tossed a ball up in the air and caught it.

Suddenly a loud scream came from down the hall. The screens disappeared as both girls rushed into the livingroom.

Levy was in the floor on her back, a woman dressed in all black with rainbow hair sat on top of her, strangling her. Levy kicked and struggled but could not rid the woman of her grip.

"Iron Dragon Club!" Koree shouted, her hand turning into a metal pole that shot out at the attacker. The woman simply changed her body density and the attack went straight through her. The change in density gave Levy a short opportunity to breathe, but it disappeared as the woman allowed herself to become solid again.

"Iron Dragon Sword!" Koree screamed, yelling at the top of her lunges as she rushed the woman. As Koree attacked Persephone whispered something under her breath. A tiny screen appeared as she whispered something else.

Despite how much she tried all of Koree's attacks went through the attacker.

"Let go of my Mom!" Koree shrieked as Levy struggled to breathe.

Out of nowhere one of the curtains ripped down from the window and scooped Koree up like a net and held her above the ground.

"K...K...Koree!" Levy choked as she beat on of her fists against the attacker's muscular arms. "Leave them alone…" she wheezed as her eyes began rolling in the back of her head.

With Koree out of the way the attacker changed her body back solid. Out of nowhere an archive screen in the shape of a saw buzzed through the air and embedded itself in the attacker's shoulder, knocking her off Levy.

Levy gasped for breath.

"Archive Secret Arts!" Persephone called. "Protective Cube!"

A cube of Archive Screens appeared around Levy, a magic seal appearing on all six sides. The attacker growled as she stood to her feet, jerked the saw shaped screen from her shoulder, threw it onto the ground and shattered it.

As she did so Persephone waved her hand up. The screen shrapnels flew into the air and began baraging the attacker.

"Augh!" she cried from both pain and shock.

RIP! The curtain Koree was tangled in tore to shreds as Koree leaped to the ground, her entire body covered in iron scales. The attacker changed her body density once more so that the shrapnels went harmlessly through her. She tried to reach into the cube to try and continued her assault on Levy, who was just now starting to regain conciousness. However, as the attacker tried to rech through the screens that buzzed and set a shock through her body, despite it being as thin as air.

"AUGH!"

"Good luck," Persephone scoffed. "The only people who can break that seal are the ones I programmed into the screens before casting the spell. And you ain't one of them!"

Persephone expected the attacked to be angry, but she wasn't, instead she just turned towards her in awe.

"Such power!" she gasped. "And at such a young age!"

The attacker stood to her feet and began to walk slowly towards Persephone. Startled, Persephone took a step back. Koree jumped in front of her, teeth gritted.

"Don't you touch my sister!" she shrieked.

"And a dragon slayer!" she jumped up and down and clapped her heads. "Oh, yes! I must have both of you in my guild!" She held out her hand and a magic stamp in the shape of a setting sun appeared in her palm. Persephone whispered something under her breath as Koree gritted her teeth and changed both of her hands into swords. Koree began swinging her hands wildly at the woman, but the swords just went straight through the attacker.

"Koree! Persephone!" Levy began beating on the walls of the cube. Apparently Persephone had rigged the spell so that whoever was in the cube could not get out on their own. "Girls! Get out of here!" she shrieked.

Persephone waved her hand and the shrapnel pieces flew towards her. Persephone summoned another cube and placed the pieces inside it.

"Analyze," she said as the smaller cube disappeared.

The attacker grabbed onto Koree's wrist and lifted her off her feet, holding the stamp very close to the guild mark on her shoulder.

Another archive saw appeared out of nowhere again and sliced all the way up the attacker's arm. She yelped in pain and let Koree go. Koree dropped to the floor then punched one of her scaly fists into the woman's knee while she was still solid. The woman's legs buckled and she fell to the ground.

"Redfox twins-" Koree began, changing both her hands into saws.

"-double saw attack!" Persephone finished as two archive saws fell down on top of the woman as the same time Koree's duo did.

Unfortunately the woman changed her body density again and disappeared through the floor.

"Huh?" both of the girls said, confused.

"Girls, I told you, get out of here!" Levy shrieked just as the woman reappeared under the cube, knocking it into the air and sending poor Levy inside of it tumbling across the livingroom. The attacker growled in obvious annoyance, rubbing the top of her head.

"I told you you're not gonna be able to get in it!" Persephone shouted as she summoned and threw another screen at the attacker. This screen was different from the others, though, as it had several letters, codes, and numbers flashing all over it. It went straight through the rainbow haired wizard's head and then came flying back to Persephone's hand.

"Such genius!" the attacker gleamed. "Finding a way to counteract my density magic! Were you planning ahead for my inevitable attack?"

"Pfft! As if!" Persephone scoffed. "I only learned that spell to keep Lorelle's crummy hands off our stuff...Elena…"

Elena gasped and took a step back as Persephone held up the screen that had gone through her head. "When this went straight through you I was able to get a peak into you mind. So now I know what your goal is and your next move!"

"Ah-ha-ha-ha!" Elena jumped up and down and clapped. "Oh, so brilliant! So talented! So young! Yes, you are brimming with potential! I mus, MUST have you! But, I guess I'll have to wait until next time. I can let you have the upper hand for long!"

And with that she disappeared through the ground.

"C'mon," Persephone said once she was gone, grabbing Koree's hand and racing out of the house. "Mom, stay put! Dad will be back soon. He can let you out."

"Wait, where are you two going!?" Levy shrieked. "Koree, Peresphone! Get back here this instant! Girls! Girls!"

But the two were already gone.

"Where are we going?" Koree asked as she and Persephone ran along Magnolia's busy streets towards the guild hall.

"Her next targets are Aunt Sherry and Aunt Jenny. We've gotta stop her before she gets there!"

"How?" Koree asked. "We barely got a hit on her!"

Perspehone grinned smuggly as she looked back at her sister. "We'll call for back up!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Like you saw," Persephone explained from where she and Koree were riding a horse at top speed towards the Blue Pegasus Guild Hall. "She's got density magic like Lorelle and telepahty. What you didn't see is she's also got some cloning magic."

"Cloning magic?" Cato gasped from where he and the rest of the Birthday Gang were still in the play area. "So there could be more of her."

"Yeah," Persephone said. "Using the blood samples I got from those shrapnel pieces I've analyzed I can track this version of her, but I can only get rough guestimates for the other four versions of herself. That's her limit. Five clones. I got that from the blood analysis too. Each one has a different personality. The one we're chasing is excitement. The other four are anger, sadness, happiness, and disgust."

A map appeared in all of the Birthday Gang's minds. "Anger is somewhere in Crocus. Sadness is in Hargeon. And Disgust is in Acalypha. Hapiness keeps moving around. Right now she's on Hakobe Mountain but she'll probably leave out again soon."

"Acalypha and Hargeon?" Roman asked.

"Yeah," Persephone answered.

"What about it?" Storm asked.

"I overheard my Daddy telling Mommy about three women who died. Two were from Hargeon ad one was from Acalypha. I think...I think this woman must be the one that killed them!"

"And she must also be the one attacking our Mommies here in Crocus," Storm said.

"And she's gonna kill Aunt Jenny and Aunt Sherry if we don't stop her," Koree added.

"She's getting close, as you can probably see on your maps I gave you," Persephone said. "Since you guys are in Crocus you are closer and can get to her faster. We'll catch up with you of course, but if you don't slow her down we won't make it in time!"

"So we've gotta get out of here!" Nashi exclaimed.

"But how can we get out with my Mama and Roman's Mama watching us?" Cato asked.

"Can't you make an illusion with your thought projection, Roman?" Storm asked.

"Well, yeah, but it won't work on Mommy," Roman said. "Her artificial eye letsher see through illusions."

The four were silent, then Roman sighed. "I'm gonna regret this later but we have no choice…"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Yee-haw!" Minette squealed as she, Eva, and Von rode down the hospital hallways on a food trolley.

"Big brother was right! This is fun!" Eva cheered.

"You three get back here this instant!" Erza shouted as she chased after the triplets.

With Erza out of the play area for the moment Roman cast a thought projection and he, Cato, Nashi, and Storm snuck out of the play area behind Mirajane's back as she watched on after Erza chasing the triplets, whispering an "oh, dear," as she held a hand to her face.

"I wanna try too!" Igneel shouted, jumping over the play area fence to chase after the rogue food trolley.

"Welp. Can't say I didn't see that one coming," Nashi sighed as she and the other three snuck towards the staircase leading outside.

"Mommy's gonna kill me once she finds out I gave 'em that idea," Roman groaned.

"We'll worry about that later," Storm sighed.

"There's a train leaving the station closest to you in ten minutes," Persephone said over her telepathy, indicating the spot on her map. "Don't know how you'll get tickets, though. And it only goes past the guild hall, not stop at it."

"No problem," Nashi said. "I'll just use Styx to get us in and out."

"Doesn't that spell wear you out, though?" Storm asked.

"You got any better ideas?"

"We've still gotta come up with a plan," Persephone said. "This woman's really tough. Hitting her is hard, and even when you do hit her she just gets up again."

"Can't you put one of those protective bues around her?" Nashi asked.

"No, I can only make one at a time," Persephone said. "And the one I put on Mom's still up. I guess Dad's not home yet."

"So we need some other way to trap her," Roman said.

"Not really. Just a way to knock her out," Persephone said.

"But you said it's hard to hit her," Storm said.

"Right, so if any of you have a spell that can knock someone out in one go, please let us know."

"I...um...I might have one," Cato said. "But I can only cast it once because it takes up all of my magic energy. I'm thinking about it right now. Persephone, can you see it?"

"Yeah, I see it," Persephone said. "I think it will work but if you can only use it once then we've only got one shot at this."

"Right!" the whole Birthday Gang stated.

"So, here's the plan…"


	11. Chapter 11: The Next Generation Rises

Chapter Eleven: Fairy Tail's Next Generation Rises

"The train is right in front of you," Persephone said as Nashi, Roman, Storm, and Cato made it to the outside of the train station. An express train with several passenger and cargo cars began taking off. "Try to hide in one of the back cards. They almost never check in those."

"Got it," Nashi nodded as she stopped running and held both of her hands out in front of her. "Styx!"

A fiery whirlpool appeared in the middle of the street.

"Go, go, go!" Cato shouted as he pointed at the whirlpool. Storm and Roman both jumped through, followed by Cato and finally Nashi. Darkness engulfed the four children before they were transported through another brilliant burst of light into one of the cargo cars. They came out in the same order they had gone in, with Nashi being the last. She put a hand to her head, feeling slightly dizzy.

"You alright?" Storm asked, setting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Nashi nodded, shaking her head to try and rid it of the fuzziness.

"You should try and rest," Roman said as he peaked out through a crack in the door. "We've got a big fight ahead of us and we'll need your Rhea flames to keep us safe."

"Right," Nashi nodded as she plopped down into a sitting position.

"We're stopping at a magic store to get the stuff for Cato's spell, but we should still meet you there around the same time," Persephone said.

"How much you think you'll need?" Koree asked Cato.

"Well, I can only go up to about five, so…" Cato answered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Got it, we'll get five," Persephone answered.

"Did you guys even remember to bring jewel with you?" Storm asked.

"I said we'd get five," Persephone replied.

"How are you going to do that with no-"

"I said we'd get five! Don't questions how!" Persephone snapped at Storm.

"They're gonna steal them," Roman sighed.

"We can go back and pay later!" Koree insisted.

"Just stick to the map and meet us there on time," Persephone added. "You guys get there too late and we won't be able to stop her!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Gray stood over the bed, daggers digging into his chest as he looked down upon Juvia. Her breathing was slow and labored, sweat on her brow, He reached out and brushed her hair out of her face, leaning down to kiss her gently upon her still lips.

"Keep fighting," he whispered.

Next to him Sting was also tending to Yukino. Of the three victims she was still in the worst shape, shivering violently. Sorano was seated next to her, prepping to do another transfer in the hopes it would still the shaking.

"I love you," Sting whispered. "I love you so much. Please hold on."

Rogue was seated at Minerva's side. Of the three she was in the bst shape, but she was still unconscious. He stared at her missing arm. Their life would never be the same afterwards, even if Minerva pulled through (which it was looking like she would). She would have to learn to do everything all over again, not to mention they now had a son to care for.

Sacchi began fussing in his father's arm.

"Sh," Rogue whispered as he bounced his son. "Hush, little one. It's alright."

He began rocking Sacchi in a rocking chair as Gray and Sting began to made their exit.

"Keep an eye on them for us, will ya?" Sting asked.

"Of course," Rogue said, never taking his eyes off his son.

Gray and Sting continued on their trek, walking to where Laxus and Erik were waiting outside the hospital.

"Ready?" Laxus asked.

"Yeah," they both nodded.

"Put these on," Erik tossed his three partners plain, black cloaks. "It's best if you three don't draw attention to yourselves. Yet, anyways."

"Right," they all agreed as they put on the cloaks and began following Erik through the busy streets of Crocus towards the black market.

Neither of them noticed another, cloaked figure armed with a knife slipping into the hospital behind them.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Oh, good, you found them!" Mirajane sighed in relief as Erza came back with the triplets and Igneel in tow.

Erza turned to say something when she noticed something and her brow furrowed.

"Where are Roman, Cato, Storm, and Nashi?" she asked.

"What do you mean, they're right there," Mirajane said, pointing to the far corner of the play area.

Erza let go the four children she was dragging back and stomped forward to where the four older children appeared to be. She waved and arm at them and they disappeared like smoke.

Mirajane gasped. "Oh my goodness! Where could they have gone? I thought they were there the whole time! I'm not even sure when they slipped off!"

Erza's teeth gritted. There was only one out of those four that could cast illusions and she knew it was hers. "I'm going to kill that boy when I get my hands on-"

"MAMA LOOK OUT!" Farrah's loud shriek broke through the entire waiting and play ward.

Erza whirled about to find Farrah diving into Mirajane, knocking her off the stool she was seated upon and into the floor. Standing just behind the chair was a woman dressed in all black and clutching a jagged knife in her hands.

Erza jumped, requpping into her robe yuen as she did so. Maybe because of this armor's elastic properties it would be hard for this fiend to use her density magic on her. Erza swung her katana at the attacker, but the blade simply went through her.

Still, Erza landed without problem.

"Farrah, get your mother and the children out of here!" she instructed as she turned and rushed the attacker again.

"Mama, c'mon!" Farrah said as she tried to pull Mirajane up. Mirajane, however, was still seated in the floor, holding her stomach.

"Mama, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Mirajane said, taking Farrah's hand. "Fell on my stomach and bruised it but I think the baby and I are okay."

As Farrah helped her mother to her feet Erza swung at the attacker again. The blade began going straight through her once again. Quickly taking note Erza requipped her katana away and replaced it with her fire empress sword, igniting it once it was in her hand. As the flame burned half-way through her torso the killer screeched in pain and recoiled away from Erza, changing her body density back to normal once again. Erza took the opportunity and kicked her in the head, knocking her on her back and setting her foot into her chest.

"Thought you could sneak up on us, did you?" she asked.

The woman frowned at Erza and disappeared through the floor. Erza stumbled slightly as the woman's body disappeared from under her but she quickly recovered.

"I just don't get it," a voice echoed through the room. Erza looked about, looking for the killer as Farrah shepherded Mirajane and the children out of the wing.

"What is it that you all have that I don't!?" the same voice shrieked as she suddenly appeared from the ceiling over Erza, diving down towards her, knife glistening. Erza held up her sword, blocking the knife as she tried to grab at the attacker. Her hand, however, went straight through the woman once more.

The killer did a somersault of sorts, her body morphing straight though Erza, pulling the knife with her. Though the density of the knife had change, Erza could still feel it's coldness rushing through her. She wasn't sure if the poison would still affect her since the knife hadn't actually stabbed her, just passed through her, but at the moment she didn't care. She whirled back around as the woman landed on the ground, bringing her still flaming sword around.

"Ack!" the woman shouted as the blade passed over her back. She turned to face Erza, a look of utter rage on her face.

"Look at you! So powerful, so beautiful! Well, so am I and what do I have to show for it!?" she dove towards Erza again, but Erza side stepped, lifting her sword to slice through her once again. She cried out in pain once more as she rolled along the ground.

"What are you talking about!?" Erza asked as she turned to face her opponent once more.

"S Class wizard. Wife. Mother. Beloved by all. You have it all. You have everything that should rightfully be mine!"

She jumped at Erza once again, no longer bothering to use her density magic, but instead just jabbing and slicing wildly with the knife. Erza blocked each blow with ease as her brow deepened.

"Is that what this is all about?" Erza asked as she and the killer locked blades. "Is this why you've gone about killing S class mothers? Because you're jealous!?"

"Jealous? No," the killer answered with a crazed smile as she leaned even harder against Erza's sword. "Why should I be jealous of someone inferior to me? No. I'm simply taking what's rightfully mine!"

The attacker dug her heels deeper into the ground to push all of her weight against Erza. Erza braced herself and then stumbled forward as the killer changed her body density once more. Quickly anticipating the foe's next move, Erza whirled about and brought her sword up to guard her body-

-but a fraction of a second too late.

As the women's blades clashed again Erza felt a small prick and a trickle of blood on her shoulder.

"HA!" the killer shouted. "That may be just a scratch but that's all I need to do you in! I'd say you've got about five minute before you start feeling the poison's effects!"

"Hmph!" Erza sniffed. "That's just long enough for me to take care of you!"

Robes of yuen clearly not having any effects on this mad woman's magic, Erza requipped into her lightning empress armor, keeping her fire sword. She sent a small blast of lightning at the killer, sending her flying flat onto her back.

Five minutes, Erza thought to herself. I can do this! I've got five minutes.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Farrah gasped as she helped her mother down a hallway, all of the children trailing behind her. Thanks to her dragon slayer senses she heard every word the two dueling women were saying.

"Farrah?" Mirajane asked.

"She got Aunt Erza!" Farrah exclaimed, causing everyone to gasp.

"Mommy?" Eva squeaked as tears formed in her's, Minnette's, and Von's eyes.

"Bianca, help my mom," Farrah said as she turned and raced back up the hallway.

"Farrah, wait! Stop!" Mirajane shrieked, reaching a hand out to her daughter.

Farrah didn't stop, though, she kept running back to the wing.

"Farrah, she's too strong! She'll kill you!" Mirajane screamed. "Farrah!"

Farrah knew her mother was right, but she also know that if Erza went down before she could stop this criminal then they were all done for. She had to help her!

What spells do I have? She wondered. All of my lightning ones will hurt her, but she can just disappear into a wall and get away. I need something that will stop her no matter what. But what-

Then an idea popped into her mind.

Don't be insane! Even Mama can't cast that one! Papa's only been able to pull it off a few times! No, my lightning will just have to do!

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"We're here!" Cato shouted as the Blue Pegasus Guild hall came into view of the maps in their minds.

"Styx!" Nashi called, the fiery whirlpool reappearing. All four children hopped through, landing on the pathway about a mile or so from the Guild Hall. Nashi felt the same dizziness she'd felt before in her head, but shook it off as she stood to her feet.

"She should be right on top of us," Storm muttered, looking about.

"Yeah," Nashi nodded.

"So where-"

"There!" Roman pointed at the road just a few steps behind them. A tall woman with dishevelled and torn clothing and rainbow hair was racing down the road towards them.

Storm instantly recognized her as the woman who attacked his mother and frowned deeply.

"Storm, remember the pla-" Roman began, but Storm had already taken off.

"Water Slicer!"

A knife-like water blast shot out from his hands in the shape of knives. The woman changed her body density and let the water go through her. Still, she smiled and clapped her hands wildly.

"Oh, wowee! That was a big one! You're a strong little guy aren't y-"

"Water Nebula!" he screamed, shooting two beams of water, spinning around each-other in a helix formation at her. Again, the attack did nothing but go straight through her.

"My, my, my, aren't you a little-"

"AUGH!" Storm just charged towards her, fists raised, swinging for a punch-

-that he missed as he, again, went straight through her and rolled along the road behind her.

"-a little spit fire, eh?" the woman said brightly as she knelt over him.

"YOU TRIED TO KILL MY MOMMY!" Storm screeched, swinging upward and finally managing to catch her in the jaw, sending a blast of water up with her which knocked her onto her back.

"Oh! YAY! Oh, you're so strong and tough already! Oh, I'm going to have so much fun training you to be one of my top wizards!" the woman cheered as she pulled out a stamp and reached for Storm.

"All I need to do is-"

"RHEA!"

A pink flame coated Storm's entire body as soon as the woman touched him, causing her to recoil in pain.

"Ouch! What on-" She turned around to where the other three children were racing towards her, also coated in pink flames. Nashi's brow furrowed in concentration as she raised one hand out in front of her.

"THEA'S FURY!" she shouted. Two blasts of sparkling, crimson flames jutted from her palm, swirling around each other like a pair of fireworks canons before striking the woman. She changed her body density again, but once the flames entered her she yelped in pain. She even stumbled a bit, clutching her chest as they passed through her. Nashi noticed this and waved with her hand for the two flames to come back. The jutting balls of sparkling crimson changed their course, turning and heading back into the woman. Rather than just going straight through her, though, they stopped while still in her chest.

"AUGH! OUCH! OH, THAT BURNS!" the woman cried.

Nashi smiled and snapped her fingers. The sparkling balls exploded. The woman fell to her knees, screaming in pain. She took deep, labored breaths.

"I...I don't think I've ever felt a flame that hot before," she said.

"Guess you've never met a Dragneel before," Nashi said, holding her fists up, the same crimson flames appearing around them.

The woman took another deep breath before grinning and laughing wildly. "Oh, how exciting!" she clapped. "I'd heard stories about you but I didn't know if they were true or not. I suppose you're responsible for this pink stuff, too? Oh, how impressive! How exciting! I must, must, must have you!"

She darted towards Nashi, but Roman jumped in front of her, bow staff in hand.

"No you don't!" he shouted, jumping up and swinging his staff towards her. It passed through her as well as she changed her body density. She changed back to normal just as Roman had passed through her, which is what Roman expected. Still airborne, he pivoted his body and brought the staff down on the back of her head, knocking her off balance.

"Requip!" Roman shouted as he landed on his feet, the staff disappearing and several throwing stars appearing, hovering about them until he gave them the gesture to order them to strike. Two or three embedded themselves in the attacker's back before she was able to change her density and disappeared through the ground.

"Where'd she go?" Roman asked, calling his throwing stars back.

"There!" Nashi said, pointing to the road behind them where the woman had popped back up, and had turned to them, laughing aloud, insane laugh.

"Yes, yes, YES! Oh, I should have started with Fairy Tail! Who would have guessed that-"

"Memory make Wave Wind!" Cato called as he placed a finger to his head. A powerful tornado burst to life and charged towards the attacker. Even with her density magic she couldn't keep herself from being sucked up into it.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" she shouted.

"Eos!" Nashi cried, two fiery wings bursting to life on her back that lifted her into the air. She flew straight towards the tornado, the crimson flames still in her hands.

"You crazy! You'll just be-" Cato tried to warn Nashi.

"Yikes!" Nashi shrieked as she was sucked into the tornado.

"-and there she goes," Roman sighed.

"What did Nashi just do?" Persephone's annoyed voice echoed inside the children's minds.

"You don't want to know," Cato said. "Just get here soon."

"Hold her up for another five minutes or so, we're on our way!"

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Erza stumbled as she made another swing for the woman's head. Her arm was beginning to burn and shake.

"Ha-ha-HA! Looks like your five minutes are up, Titania!" the killer chortled.

"Maybe so," Erza said as her arm began convulsing and she traded her weapon to her other hand. "But I'm still standing so you and I have a while to go!"

She jumped into the air, diving back own onto the attacker who was barely able to dodge in time.

"Well, I respect that," the killer grinned. "A fighter to the end! Kinda makes me feel bad for killing you. Actually, no it doesn't!"

Erza gritted her teeth. I'm slowing down, too. I should have hit her, she thought before saying: "Requip!"

She changed into her Heaven's Wheel Armor, calling out as many swords infused with elemental magic as she could, the convulsions in her arm becoming more violent.

My body's starting to shut down, she thought to herself. I'll have to depend on my telepathy to finish this monster off.

Erza's swords began rushing the woman, slicing and diving at her in every which way. Still, she was able to dodge, evade, and shield herself using chairs, tables, and anything else in the waiting wing.

Crap! She's good! Either that or my mind and telepathy are also weakening…

Erza's knee buckled as the convulsions spread to her lower body.

"Don't take this personal," the attacker said, walking towards Erza, knife drawn. "You simply weren't good enough to raise those children to their full potential. Rest assured, I'll-AUGH!"

Erza suddenly found the strength to stand, requip her dragon-slayer blade into her hand and smite the woman across the chest.

"If I die here today, I die here," Erza declared loudly. "But you will not lay a finger on my children!"

All of the swords floating about went mad, charging the woman all at once. This time she was caught by surprise, and shrieked in pain as the blades all sliced at her. Even with her density as thin as air she couldn't escape the absolute thrashing she received.

Erza took in deep breaths as she focused, keeping up the telepathic attack.

A sharp pain erupted from the back of her skull as she toppled forward. Suddenly every desk, chair, table, even pen was flying straight at her.

"You're not the only one here with telepathy," a sinister voice called as Erza was pinned down under a mountain of broken wood and plastic. She tried to push the pile off her but now both arms were convulsing and her chest was aching and burning. The killer chuckled menacingly as she sauntered over to stand over Erza.

"It was a good fight," she said as she raised the knife over Erza's head. "Best I've had in awhile. So I'll thank you by making this quick."

She thrust the knife forward to stab straight through Erza's eye when they both heard a young voice call out:

"LIGHTNING DRAGON ROAR!"

A burst of lightning collided into the killer and sent her flying into a nearby wall.

Erza let out a small sigh of relief as she heard someone running towards her.

"Aunt Erza, are you okay?"

"Farrah, I-" Erza began, but she choked as foam began bubbling out of her mouth.

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"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Nashi shouted as she adjusted to the whirling wind around her, which is more than the killer could say who was still just being tossed around like a ragdoll. Then again, what was she supposed to do with no wings?

With the woman incapacitated by the tornado Nashi took as many blows and punches as she could at her. Granted, it was a bit difficult. The tornado was trying to pull her every which way, put she still managed to get several good licks in on her before the tornado stopped, sending the woman crashing to the ground. Nashi landed next to her, extinguishing her wings and panting heavily.

She'd never used so many spells so quickly after one another. And she was starting to feel the effects of it.

"Iapetus…"

"Huh?" Nashi looked about, searching for whoever had just talked to her.

"Ha….ha-ha-ha! Ha!" The attacker began to laugh. "Oh, that was glorious! You're all so powerful, but still so young! Oh, what grand things await for you all!" she cheered as the three boy's raced to Nashi's side. "And I get to guide you through it all! Now come-Off!"

A blast of water knocked the woman onto her back before she disappeared into the ground again.

She appeared behind them. They all whirled around, now catching onto her game and charged towards her. Roman sent his throwing stars once again, but they passed straight through her. She raced forward to grab the children, but instead only grabbed air.

"An illusion?" she asked herself just before she heard a "Water Nebula!" and felt a concussive force against her back. She fell face first in the dirt and slipped underground again. She popped back up what she thought was a safe distance away, only to be met by a:

"Memory make lightning blast!"

"AUGH!" she shouted as she was pushed up against a nearby tree by the blast. She saw Roman running towards her, bow staff in hand. She changed her body density to let it go through her, realizing too late that it was another illusion and it had actually been Nashi running towards her with another Thea flame that promptly exploded one it was in her chest, sending the attacker flying forward into the dirt. She had just barely pushed herself up onto her hands when she felt something hard and cold hit her in her side, sending her rolling.

"Guys!"

All four children turned to find Koree and Persephone atop a horse racing towards them, Koree's hand still a metal club from knocking their target back towards them.

"Catch!" Persephone called as she tossed a lacrima to Nashi, Storm, and Roman. "Get ready, Cato!" She said as she jumped down from the horse, a bag at her side, and a screen appearing in her hand that she promptly smashed on the ground so she could send a torrent of shards at the attacker.

The attacker disappeared through the ground again.

"Koree, there!" Cato pointed to an area on the ground. "She's got a pattern, she'll pop up there!"

"On it!" Koree said, jumping off the horse at the spot, a satchel at her side as well.

"The rest of you, c'mon!" Persephone said running to the spot.

"Right," Nashi, Roman, and Storm said as they ran and all the children stood in a circle around the spot.

As Cato had predicted, the woman popped up and Koree whacked her over the had with her club-hand, knocking her dizzy for a second.

"Now!" Persephone said as she pulled a lacrima out of her bag. Koree did the same. All five of the children placed their lacrima's in a circle around the woman and then took off running.

Cato closed his eyes and pressed the fore finger of both hands against the sides of his head, concentrating.

"Memory make thunder palace…"

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"Aunt Erza?" Farrah asked in a panicked voice as Erza began choking on the foam.

"Ha-ha-HA!" the killer laughed as she slowly stood up from the charred wall. "Looks like the mighty Titania has finally fallen!"

Farrah frowned as she turned towards the killer

Well, now I've got no choice, she thought as she stood to her feet, putting on her bravest face.

"You have three seconds to get out of here!" she declared.

"F-Farrah?" Erza asked. Surely not. Was Farrah actually capable of-

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"What is this?" the woman asked as the five lacrimas began floating around her, a yellow lightning beam shining in the center of each.

Cato's eyebrows furrowed.

I can do this.

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"One!" Farrah shouted. I can do this.

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"Aw, did you make the lacrimas all pretty for your new guild mama?" the woman clapped her hands.

Cato concentrated harder. After all I'm-

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"Two!"

-the daughter of guild master Laxus and Mirajane Dreyar-

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The lacrimas began to glow.

-grandson of Makarov Dreyar, a wizard saint-

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"One!" Farrah clapped her hands together.

-and a member of Fairy Tail!

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-and a member of Fairy Tail!

Cato smiled before declaring: "THUNDER PALACE ACTIVATE!"

The lacrimas began to shine and tremble before they exploded. A pillar of blinding lightning as tall as the eye could see was unleashed upon to killer. The ground shook, knocking all of the children onto their backs as they shielded their eyes from the blast. The killer screamed in utter agony from the pillar as she shone on for a few seconds more before disappearing.

Cato dropped to his knees as the spell ended, completely drained of magic power.

"Did it...did it work…?" he gasped.

Persephone hopped to her feet and raced to the crater left in the wake of the blast's edge.

"Yup, that's one toasted lady!" she declared as the rest of the Birthday Gang gathered around the crater to gaze down upon the burned, shaking, and bleeding woman at the bottom. She groaned once before she began to-

"Sparkles?" Nashi asked.

"She...she's disappearing!" Roman exclaimed.

"No, you get back here!" Storm shouted before jumping into the crater just as she disappeared completely.

"Probably should have seen that one coming," Persephone sighed. "She was a clone after all."

"No!" Storm punched the ground. "She...she got away…"

"It didn't...it didn't…" Cato groaned as he completely collapsed.

"No, it worked," Roman assured him, setting a hand on his back. "We got rid of one of the clones and Aunt Jenny and Aunt Sherry will be safe now?"

"Safe from what?" all of the children turned to find Jenny and the Trimens running towards them.

"Oh my goodness!" Jenny cried as she began to run even faster than the men. "Are you little cuties okay?"

"What happened here, man?" Ichiya asked.

"Where are your parents?" Ren asked.

"Persephone, are you alright?" Hibiki asked his star pupil, eyes widening in concern.

"Yeah. But it's a bit of a long story…" Persephone said.

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"Times up!" Farrah declared, opening her hands, a tiny ball of light floating between them.

"You think you can tell me what to do little girl?" the killer grumbled. "Hm. You look a bit too old for my purposes anyways. Guess I'll just have to do away with you as well!" she raised the knife just as appeared from the hallway, running as fast as her pregnancy would allow her.

"Farrah, no!" she screamed.

The killer was about the make a stab at Farrah when she clapped her hands together. The small ball of light burst, sending rays of pure white shining from Farrah's palms. The killer took two steps back before similar rays of light sprouted up from the ground around her.

She, Erza, and Mirajane could only stare at Farrah as she proclaimed:

"I invoke Fairy Law."

A golden magic circle appeared before Farrah that then doused the entire hospital in a heavenly glow.

Mirajane raised a hand to shield herself from the light, a single tear forming in her eye as she whispered,

"Farrah…"

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"What's that noise?" Rogue answered just as a bright light engulfed the room. Sacchi squealed in fear from his arms.

"ACK!" Rogue bent ever to shield both his and his son's eyes from the light, whispering soft "Sh, sh, sh's," as he did so.

From the bed next to him he heard a loud gasp.

He snapped his head back up. "Minerva?"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Erza's arm stopped convulsing, her chest stopped aching.

"Wha-what's happening?" she wondered.

Why Is the poison no longer working? She thought as the light continued to wash over her.

The light.

Of course!

She suddenly remembered the explanation she'd given Gray all those years back during the battle with Phantom Lord.

"A spell that vanquishes darkness with sacred light."

Torbernite poisoning was a potion brewed with dark magic that converted one's own magic energy to fight against them. It only made sense that Fairy Law would counteract that. Why had they not thought of that before.

"Farrah," she whispered as the light began to dim, leaving an ethereal glow over the young teen as she opened her eyes to glare at the killer.

She may not have the Dreyar blood in her veins, but she has the heart and spirit of both of out last guild masters, Erza thought to herself as a small smile formed on her lips.

"Mirajane, Laxus, you've raised her well," she whispered more to herself than anyone.

The light finally relinquished, leaving the killer shaking and weak at Farrah's feet. The teenager glared, the gasped as the woman sparkled into non existence.

"She...disappeared?" Farrah asked.

"That makes no sense," Erza said as she sat up.

"Farrah."

Farrah turned to find her mother running towards her.

"Mama?"

"Are you okay?" Mirajane asked. "You're not-oh!"

"Mama!?" Farrah gasped. "Wha-"

"I-oof-I think the baby's coming!"


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve:

"Easy my man," Ichiya said as he lifted (with a bit of difficulty) a panting Cato into his arms. "Seems you've overdone it. I smell almost no magic energy in your parfume."

"What is going on?" Ren asked as he surveyed over all of the children.

"Well, you see, what had happened was…" Persephone stated before going into the full story. As she spoke Nashi stared down into the crater where Storm was still fuming. She said nothing, but the wheels were turning inside of her head.

"Whatever you're planning, don't do it," Roman warned her.

"So everytime we defeat a clone it'll just disappear until she makes a new one…" Nashi mused.

"I said whatever you are planning don't do it!" Roman shouted.

Nashi ignored him

"Atlas," a voice whispered from somewhere, as well as the same "Iapetus," from before.

"Hm?" Nashi asked, looking about. "What was that."

"I said don't do anything stupid!" Roman repeated.

"Not you, someone else," Nashi stated flatly.

"There's no one else talking to you, Nashi," Roman answered, a bit of a concerned tone in his voice. "Are you okay? Do you need to sit down? Did you over do it too?"

"I'm fine," Nashi waved him off as she continued thinking.

Meanwhile Persephone had finished telling her tale. Hibiki clutched Jenny close to her chest, eyes wide.

"So someone was coming here to kill me and take our baby boy!?" Jenny shrieked.

"Yup," Persephone nodded. "And Aunt Sherry."

Ren clenched his fists closed, jaw tight at the thought of someone attacking his heavily pregnant wife.

"And you six were able to fight her off?" Eve asked.

"So where is this monster of a woman, man?" Ichiya wondered.

"Well, turns out to only be a clone of her," Persephone explained. "She disappeared right after we defeated her. We know where her other clones are, though...kinda…"

Persephone downloaded the map into the Blue Pegasus members minds.

"How'd you do this?" Hibiki asked.

"I got a bit of blood off her during our fight at home and used it to track her whereabouts," Persephone said.

"You what?" Hibiki blinked.

"Yeah. That's also how I found out there were clones to begin with. I analyzed the magic energy in her blood to find out what kinds of magic she can use."

"Uh, bu-uh, huh?" Hibiki stuttered. "And, um, what did you say you used to save your mom?"

"Protective Cube with a IMEorB lock."

"A what?" Koree asked. "Individual Magic Energy or Blood lock. That's why only me, you, Mom or Dad can get into 'em."

"H-h-how long have you been able to do that?" Hibiki stuttered.

"Hm. Looks like the student has surpassed the teacher, Man!" Ichiya mused.

"No true!" Hibiki thundered.

Meanwhile, Nashi was still deep in thought at the edge of the crater. If beating a clone makes it disappear, what happens if you beat the actual person? Would all the clones disappear?

"Well, come on, we better get your kids to our Guild Hall," Ren said, motioning to all the children to follow them. "We'll let Master Bob know what's happened."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"WHAT ON EARTHLAND!?" Erik thundered as the hospital was engulfed in a bright light just minutes after they'd left.

"Laxus, isn't that-" Gray began.

"That's Fairy Law," Laxus nodded as he began running back to the hospital. "That creep must be in the hospital. Why else would someone cast that spell?"

"Juvia!" Gray gasped as he took off after the guild master.

"Yukino!" Sting shouted as he too ran off.

"And...there goes my back up," Erik sighed. "Well, guess I'm going solo," he sighed as he turned and slumped his way towards the black markets.

The three men made their way inside just as the light dimmed. Gray all but pushed past Laxus to make his way up the staircase and to the recovery room where Juvia and the other two victims were placed.

"JUVIA!" he shrieked as he pushed the door open.

He was shocked to be met by the sight of Rogue clutching Minerva close to him. At first his heart sank.

No, don't tell me Minerva's-

He gasped as Rogue leaned back a little to reveal Minerva was perfectly fine, smiling brightly as Rogue held their son out for her to meet. Tears brimmed her eyes as she stroked the baby's hair.

"Why, hello there…" she whispered.

"Yukino!" Sting shouted as he rushed passed Gray and to Yukino's bedside. It was only then that Yukino had been sitting upright, hugging Soran.

"Sting!" Yukino called as she jumped to her feet and ran into her husband's arms.

Sting held her close, tears rolling down his face. "Oh thank goodness, thank goodness."

Gray turned to the bed at the end of the room and slowly walked to it. Juvia was seated upright, hands folded in her lap.

"Juvia?"

She turned to him, a soft smile on her lips. "Gray."

Gray rushed to her, grabbing her face with both hands and passionately kissing her on the lips. She sighed as she kissed him back, hands getting lost and tangled in his hair.

"You're okay," he whispered when they broked for air, only to dive back in for another kiss. "You're okay!"

Juvia nodded as he began peppering her face in kisses. He wrapped his arms around her neck and held her as close to him as possible, tears running down his face.

"Gray, the children-"

"Are fine," Gray told her. "Their fine. You're fine. We're all going to be okay."

Juvia smiled as she wrapped her arms around his middle.

"I love you," Gray kissed her cheek. "I love you. I love you so much!"

"I love you too," Juvia whispered back, craning her neck to kiss his lips once again.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"This way, Mama, it's okay," Farrah said as she helped her mother back through the hallway.

"Mira! Farrah!"

"Papa?" Farrah asked as she saw her father running down the hall.

"Laxus!" Mirajane called.

"Are you okay?" Laxus asked as he reached his wife's side.

"Not exactly," Mirajane answered. "This little one decided it wants to come today," she patted her belly.

"Wait, what!?" Laxus asked. "The baby's coming!"

"Mm-hm," Mirajane nodded as she winced from another contraction. "And Cato...Cato...oof!"

"What's wrong with Cato?" Laxus asked Farrah as Mirajane couldn't speak through the contraction.

"We don't know, he's missing," Farrah said. "He went missing right before that killer lady showed up."

"SHE'S HERE!?"

"Was. She disappeared after I cast Fairy Law."

"THAT WAS YOU!?"

"Mm-hm."

"Since when have you been able to cast Fairy Law?"

"Since about ten minutes ago," Farrah shrugged.

"How-whatever, where's Cato?"

"We don't know, that's why he's missing!" Farrah exclaimed.

"What's going on!?"

The three Dreyars turned to find Lucy running towards them, pushing Natsu in his wheelchair in front of her.

"Cato, Roman, Storm, and Nashi," Farrah explained. "They're missing. And the killer was just here so she might have taken them."

"WHAT!?" both Dragneels shrieked.

"AUGH!" Mirajane cried in pain.

"Farrah, get your mother to the birthing ward, and take Natsu with you. Lucy, you're with me. She was just here she couldn't have gotten far."

"Oh, come on!" Natsu grumbled as he was forced to go along with Farrah and Mirajane.

Lucy and Laxus began running back to the waiting ward where the battle had taken place. Erza was there, filling in Jellal on all that had happened.

"...doesn't make sense," Jellal was saying.

"What doesn't make sense?" Lucy asked as she and Laxus reached their sides.

"Erza was telling me that there was no sign of anything wrong until right before Elena Alteria showed up," Jellal said. "Had she truly taken Roman and his friends we would have known it before then. Roman's not one to go down without a fight."

"Yeah, neither is Nashi," Lucy nodded.

"Or Cato for that matter. And that Storm ain't a shy little thing either."

"So what happened to them?" Erza asked.

The doors to the hospital busted open and in raced Gajeel and Levy.

"RUGRATS, ARE Y'ALL HERE!?" Gajeel shouted.

"The twins are missing too!?" Lucy gasped.

"Yes," Levy said in a hoarse voice, stumbling forward. Everyone gasped at the bruising surrounding her neck.

"Levy what happened to you!?" Erza exclaimed.

"Well, see, I was asleep on the couch when-" Levy roughly began to recount the horrifying ordeal from earlier.

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"Girls, I'm home!" Gajeel called as he pushed the door of his house open. He was quickly taken aback by the mess of the house. He let out a sigh.

"Rugrats, did you two get into a wrestling match agai-"

He stopped as he took a step inside. He smelled something weird, someone who was either his wife nor his daughters had been in his house!

He rushed further in and gasped when he saw Levy, bloodied and bruised, clutching her stomach and groaning loudly as she lay in the floor, trapped inside a cube.

"Levy!" Gajeel yelled, rushing forward and punching at the cube. Turns out he didn't need the force of the smash because the minute he touched it the cube fizzled away. Gajeel dropped to his knees and scooped his wife into his arms.

"Levy!"

"Ga-Gajeel?" she asked, straining to open her swollen eyes.

"Hey, shush," Gajeel ran a hand over her hair. "I gotcha, Lev. You're alright, just tell me who did this to ya."

"Ga-Gajeel…" Levy croaked, voice hoarse. "The girls…"

"The girls!?" Gajeel looked about. There was no sign of Koree or Persephone anywhere. Even their scent was fading. "What happened to the girls, where are they!?"

"I think...I think they're going to Crocus…" Levy whispered as she began explaining the story.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed as she finished telling her tale. "I couldn't get out and help them. I just-"

"Hey, now," Gajeel cradled her close to her chest. "It's alright. You're gonna be okay that's all that matters, now-"

Gajeel stood up, carrying Levy in his arms. "Now, let's go get our girls!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"After Gajeel came home and let me out of the cube I told him everything that happened. I heard them say something about back up so I assumed they came to find their friends here. We took a horse and raced here as quickly as we could. But you said the other four are missing too?"

"This makes no sense," Erza said. "How could Elena have been attacking you if she was attacking Mirajane and myself around the same time?"

"I might be able to answer that," came a voice from seemingly inside their heads.

"Hibiki?" Lucy asked.

"Hello, Lucy. None of you need worry, we have your children with us and they are safe."

All of the parents sighed in relief.

"Wait, how'd they end up with you?" Laxus asked.

"A bit of a long story…"

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"...we're on the train back to Crocus now, we'll meet you at the hospital," Hibiki said as he disconnected the telepathic link and turned back to the six children they had with them, in particular Persephone.

Persephone sat cross-legged, her grumbling and motion sick sister's head rested in her lap. She was studying a screen in front of her, brows furrowed.

Hibiki sighed. He could tell her magic energy was lower than normal but nowhere as low as he assumed it would be after all she'd done. He was right when he said she hadn't surpassed him in skill...yet. She was getting very close, though. If her were being honest there was not much else he could teach her.

He turned and looked at Cato. His magic energy was starting to replenish thanks to all the snacks he and the other Trimen had given him. Eve, Ichiya, Ren, and even Jenny were practically stuffing him with cakes, cookies, and sodas.

He deserved the spoiling, though. He'd recreated a very complicated spell that must have taken his father days to accomplish! Granted, it was only a small version of Laxus' original Thunder Palace, but still, it was quite impressive.

And to think these two were once considered the weaklings of the bunch. That late bloomers had now come back with a vengeance!

Suddenly Persephone gasped, eyes wide.

"What's wrong?" Hibiki asked.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Erik grumbled as he shuffled through the black market. Figures, he finally, actually ASKS for back-up and they all dump him. Figures. He tried to block out all the vapid conversations going on around him as he made his way to the dealer's stand who had bragged about selling Torbernite crystals before and made his way in.

"Hello, hello," the dealer said as Erik sauntered forward. "How can I help you, kind sir?"

"I hear you're a pretty popular guy," Erik answered, brows furrowing a little bit. He'd seen this guy before, but from where exactly?

"Oh?" the man arched an eyebrow. "And who might that be?"

"A lady by the name of Elena Alteria."

Schwing!

Erik took a step back as a knife appeared from under the man's desk and pointed straight at him.

"And why do you wanna know about Miss Alteria!?" he thundered.

"Yeesh, calm down will ya? I'm just looking for someone to help me out with a heist, that's all!" Granted, it wasn't the best story Erik had ever come up with, but the dealer seemed to buy it because he ever so slightly lowered his weapon.

"Oh?" he asked.

"I heard she's a master of density magic. I need someone to sneak into the vault of one of the big wigs on the magic council. Old timer's got a thing against me, you see?" Erik wasn't quite sure where he was going with this story, but hey, he was winging it. He was not expecting the dealer to care so much for his client. "He recently got his hands on some documents that could spell trouble for me. I need her to go swipe those papers so I can destroy them. I'm willing to pay her handsomely for it, obviously. And anything she wants to take out of the vault for herself is fine by me."

"What did ya do to make a magic councilman so angry?" the dealer asked.

"Oh, you know…" Erik shrugged, trying to come up with something. Anything! "I...erm...slept with his daughter. Hey, we met at a bar! It was a one night stand! I had no clue who she was!"

"Pfft!" the dealer rolled his head back and laughed. "Oh, that's rich! Alright, kid, alright! I'll help you out. Unfortunately Miss Alteria doesn't like letting people know her location. A bit of the secretive type, ya know? But she's scheduled to come visit me at about 8 tonight. Come by then and she and you can talk."

"Thanks," Erik slipped off. Well, that didn't go according to plan-

"He's onto us…"

Erik stopped and strained to listen.

"...and with two of your clones taken out, I think we need to do something quick!"

"Agreed," a woman's voice answered. "We should-"

"Eavesdropping are you?"

Erik turned just in time to be punched square in the face. He toppled over but jumped back to his feet. Standing before him was a massive man, his entire right arm encased in green crystals.

"That little trick ain't gonna work on me," Erik said as he stood back to his feet as the other buyers and sellers at the market began to scatter. "Poisonous crystals may weaken any other opponent, but I'm a poison dragon-slayer! Those things are only gonna make me stronger!"

"Are you certain?" the man asked as he waved his other hand at Erik. A blast of green and black gas shot at him. Erik dodged it, but barely. As it passed by him he caught a whiff of something.

"No way," he muttered.

"Did you not wonder how I was able to cast Torbernite Crystals upon my body without weakening myself?" the opponent asked as he stepped forward.

"You...you're a-"

"That's right," the man bowed in a mocking way. "Allow me to introduce myself, Laertes, the Poison god-slayer!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Well, now that we know the children are safe," Jellal sighed in relief as he turned back to the other parents. "Laxus, go to your wife so you can be by her side when your new child is born."

Laxus didn't need telling twice and raced off.

"Levy, you should probably let a healer look at you," Jellal continued once Laxus was gone.

"I'm fine," Levy tried to reassure him, but Gajeel grabbed her arm and dragged her off.

"No you ain't, now c'mon."

As the Redfoxes would stomped off, Jellal's lacrima began to buzz. He held it up, revealing a reflection of Richard's face in the orb that floated above it.

"Report?" Jellal asked.

"Jellal, I've just gotten done talking to the Gramlush Guild Master. Apparently there's a reason why Elena Alteria has been reported as missing," Richard said.

"Oh?" Jellal asked, Erza drawing closer to him to listen.

"She ran away after she learned she was going to be formally expelled from the guild."

"Expelled?" Erza asked.

"As you know, once you've been expelled from a guild it's difficult to join another. Guild Masters will start to wonder why you were expelled in the first place. And in Elena's case, there was good reasons for her expulsion. You see, Miss Alteria seemed to have had an infatuation with Gramlush's guild master. She was constantly flirting with him, trying to seduce him, even though he was already in a relationship. About a month or so before her expulsion the Master's girlfriend found out she was pregnant. Three weeks later one of the guild's members walked in on Miss Alteria working on developing a spell she called "Infant's Re-homing." Essentially this spell, once perfected, would allow her to use her density magic to steal a woman's unborn child and place it in her own womb to grow."

"What!?" Jellal exclaimed.

"That's insane! Why would she do that!?" Erza asked.

"Clearly she wanted to steal the master's baby from his girlfriend so that she could birth it. She thought if she carried his child he would love her. Once he found out he threatened to expel her, so she disappeared. He filled out a missing wizard report as is the law, but has not made any efforts to try and find her."

"I can understand why…" Jellal nodded.

"What is this woman's obsession with stealing other women's children!?" Erza all but thundered. "If she wants children so bad why not have her own!?"

"Because she can't," Richard answered plainly.

"What?" Jellal asked.

"Years ago Miss Alteria was the wife to the Holy Hound's fifth Guild Master, Juven Alteria. Erza, you may be unaware of this, but for about the first three years after you and the others disappeared on Tenrou Island the Holy Hounds guild was one of the, if not the top guild in Fiore. This is of course before Jiemma took over Sabertooth, and before the accident."

"Accident?" Erza asked.

"While on their way to a job several Holy Hounds wizards were killed in a freak accident," Jellal explained. "A railroad bridge crossing a chasm snapped, sending the train and all of its passengers into the river rapids below."

"Juven was killed," Richard continued. "And Elena was impaled by some of the shrapnel. She survived, obviously, but the accident left her barren. She cannot conceive children of her own."

"Oh," Erza nodded, almost feeling sorry for Elena.

Almost.

"Hm…" another voice on the lacrima mused. Jellal swapped over to find Sawyer making contact. "Seems she developed a pattern of sorts after the accident. Talked to the Titan Nose guild master. Apparently they DID go out for a little while, until he found out she was flippin' insane and broke the relationship off. She didn't quite get the memo, though, and started stalking him. He finally had to ask her to leave the guild, which she did, and then went to Gramlush."

"A similar thing occurred at Phoenix Grave," Macbeth's voice called. "It appears Elena Alteria and the former guild master, Mace Orlando were having an affair. Once Mace was sent to prison, though, she left the guild."

Erza bit her tongue. Reina, Mace's wife, was now a part of Fairy Tail. She shuddered to think of telling Reina her husband had been cheating on her as well as beating her and her children. Then again, Reina may have already figured it out.

"It seems she's trying to recapture her glory days," Jellal mused. "It still doesn't quite make sense. I can see why she'd want to remarry to another powerful Guild Master. I can even see how someone that twisted would think stealing a baby would help her attain her goals. But why kill a bunch of innocent women who did nothing to her."

"I might have an answer for that," Erza said.

Jellal turned to her, eyes wide with curiosity.

"While we were fighting Elena seemed angry at me. She said something about taking what's rightfully hers, and how it's unfair that I had something she didn't. I think she's misdirecting her anger and grief from the accident onto myself and the other mothers she's attacked."

"Hm…" Jellal pondered. "Perhaps…"

Just then the ground began to shake and a whirring sound filled the air.

"What's happening?" Erza asked.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Persephone, what's wrong?" Hibiki asked as the little girl's eyes went wide.

"They're back!" Persephone shouted. "The clones are all back! And they're all…"

She furrowed her brow as the rest of the children drew closer, then gasped. "They're all headed to the hospital where our parents are!"

"Remain calm, we'll be there soon," Ichiya assured the children, but a bit too late.

"We gotta help them!" Nashi shouted, holding her hand out. "Styx!"

Before any of the Blue Pegasus members could stop them, all six children had disappeared through the portal.


	13. Chapter 13: The Next Generation Rises 2

Chapter Thirteen: The Next Generation Rises Part Two

The whirring noise picked up as a wall of white engulfed the entire hospital.

"What is this?" Jellal asked.

"Wait, I've seen this before…" Erza said just as a strange screen appeared before them.

"Wha-" Jellal began to ask just as screen began to blink black and white until the image of a short, skinny man with wild purple dreadlocks appeared.

"Can you hear me now?" he asked, his voice echoing throughout the hospital. There must have been dozens of these screens scattered throughout.

"Oh, okay!" the man said as he did a strange happy dance. "Top of the morning to you all! My name is Samson and welcome to the debut of Alteria's Children!"

Samson backed up to reveal a line up of six wizards standing side-by-side just outside the hospital. One was Samson himself. The other was a bald, hunched over man with a very long moustache.

"Is that, Erigor?" Erza asked.

Sure enough it was the old wind wizard, standing next to another was a tall, willowy woman standing right next to a rather hefty looking woman with two burnt orange pigtails. The other was a rather tall, buff man with black hair, carrying a lumpy something over his shoulder.

"Erik!" Jellal gasped as he recognized his guildmate being dropped from the man's shoulder to the ground below.

The last person standing in the line up was a woman with rainbow colored hair.

"That's right, folks!" Samson shouted. "You're about to witness the birth of the greatest guild ever! Now, the woman, the legend herself, Guildmaster Alteria!"

Elena stepped forward, a wicked smile on her face. "Thank you Samson. I'm sure you're all wondering why I've had my dear friend Erigor trap you all in there with his wind wall. Well, take a look at the people standing before you. Do any of us look familiar?"

A short pause followed.

"That's right. We're the ones you goody-two-shoes have given up on. Those who have been expelled or wandered down the misguided path to dark guilds. When we've tried to redeem ourselves, we've only been turned away. You can't see beyond our past long enough to give us a second chance. So, pray tell us..."

Elena began dividing into five individual women before asking, in five identical voices: "...why should we?"

Gasps rang out through the hospital. "That's right, in an effort to return the favor of abandoning us I'm going to ask dear old Laertes here to poison you all."

Screams erupted from every room, every hall, every wing before Elena continued.

"But why should we punish the innocent children for their parent's misdeed. Send the little ones out to me and I will spare them, make them one of my children, and raise them to be some of the strongest wizards the world has ever seen! I'll give you an hour to say your goodbyes. Don't do as I say and keep your children in there and their blood will be on your hands, not mine."

Sobs began joining the cries of fear.

Elena cuckled to herself, all six versions of herself. "As an act of good faith, I'll ask Samson to keep these screens up. So you can see exactly what I'm doing the who-"

Crack. Crack. BOOM!

A loud, crimson explosion erupted behind Elena, knocking herself and her four clones off their feet. Her other guildmates also tripped and toppled over, revealing a fiery whirlpool behind them. A young girl, no more than nine years old, with pink hair and brown, blazing eyes stepped out.

"Let. Our. Parents. Go!" she ordered as five more children came out of the whirlpool behind her.

"NASHI!" Both Lucy and Natsu screamed from where they were watching the action take place on a screen in the therapy room.

Nashi, of course, could not hear her parents shouts as she scanned over the row of six identical women, the rest of the Birthday Gang standing behind her.

"Requip!" Roman said, his bow staff appearing in his hand.

Storm waved his hand, a trail of water appearing in his palm. Both boys began to step forward, but Nashi held her arms out and stopped them.

"You all take care of those five," Nashi pointed to the other five dark guild members before narrowing her eyes at Elena. "She's mine!"

Nashi held her hands out. Five firey whirlpools appeared under Elena and her clones, sucking them inside. As she disappeared Nashi called for her wings and shot off toward the roof of the hospital.

Lucy gasped from inside the hospital. "She just used Styx five times simultaneously!"

"She's gonna wear herself out before the fight even begins, what is she thinking!?" Natsu screeched, tugging at his hair as the action outside continued.

"You impudent little brats!" Laertes grumbled as he raced towards the children, only to be knocked onto his back by a metal club to the face.

"KOREE, NO!" Gajeel screamed.

"Don't let him touch you, don't let him touch you!" Levy begged as she helplessly watched her daughter leap towards the torbernite armed man.

Samson sniffed as he watched his guild mate bounced along the pavement.

"So you kids think you can just come in here and mess with our plans?" he asked, summoning two red archive screens into either hand, which he then tossed at the children.

Persephone chuckled as she arched an eyebrow, snapping her fingers. Two more screens appeared and ran into Samson's, shattering them.

"That's cute," Persephone grinned.

"Storm Bringer," Erigor shouted, causing a tornado to spin into existence.

"Memory Make Wind Wave!" Cato shouted, calling forth another tornado that began to seemingly battle with Erigor's.

"Cato!" Laxus cried, still holding his laboring wife's hand.

"C-Cato, don't!" Mirajane begged just as another contraction hit.

"Earth make lance," the hefty woman said, sending a large, earthen spear straight towards Cato-

-that shattered as Roman leaped towards it, whacking it with his bow staff.

"Roman!" Erza shouted, racing towards the wind wall only to be knocked backwards upon impact.

The tall, willowy woman lifted her hand. "Sand wave," she said in a soft, sweet voice. A gust of sand rushed towards Roman, only to be stopped in its path by a wall of water.

"Storm!" Gray shrieked, jumping to his feet.

"Oh, please!" Juvia cried. "Please don't hurt my little boy!"

The wall of water continued to block the sand attack until it was gone. The minute the sand stopped shooting forward a translucent boy burst out of the wall, soaring straight towards the woman, hitting her square in the stomach, knocking her back.

The woman did a somersault and landed gracefully on her feet as Storm changed back to normal, flaring at his opponent.

"Hm. A water wizard, eh?" the woman said. "Well, I'm afraid your time is numbered little boy. My sand will only muddy up your water, making it difficult for you to use. I admire your willingness to try, but you are simply no-"

"Water nebula!" Storm shouted, sending two helix of water towards his opponent, who calmly held her hand out in front of her, sending forth a burst of sand. The two attacks met in the middle, mixing together until it was one swirling pillar of mud.

"See?" the woman asked in a monotone voice. "Soon it will be more sand than water and I will have-"

"Cleanse," Storm called, a mischievous grin on his face as the water glowed a bright blue. The sand began to fizzle away into non-existence.

"What!?" the woman shouted, finally raising her voice as Storm took full control of the pillar and sent her flying onto her back.

"He-" Gray blinked. "He used Cleanse? In the middle of an attack? I thought that was only a healing spell!"

"So did I," Juvia nodded.

"Ugh!" the woman grunted as she sat up, just in time to be knocked back onto her back by Storm who was using water body once again.

"How…?" she grunted.

"You used your sand to try and hurt me," Storm said. "Anything that's meant to do harm, poison-"

He shot a water shot at the woman, which she dodged.

"-sickness-"

He shot again, this time hitting her in the shoulder.

"-dark magic-"

He shot her in the other shoulder.

"-even just a regular old spell that you use to try and hurt somebody, I can use my Cleanse and make it go AWAY!"

On the last word he sent forth a huge wave of water that sent the woman flying into the air and then landing roughly on the pavement of the street, right in front of a magic vehicle that had to swerve hard to avoid her, causing a loud SCREECH!

By now a crowd was forming around the hospital, but the woman didn't notice as she turned back to Storm, who was panting heavily.

"Maybe so," she said as she stood to her feet. "But that spell used up a lot of your magic energy. Seems all I'll have to do is just wait you out! Sand slicer!"

"Water Slicer!" the two spells met again, mixing into a muddy substance.

She's right, though. Storm thought. I can't keep using Cleanse over and over again like this. I've gotta figure out another way to stop her…

He began looking around, trying to find something else he could use. He spotted a fountain just outside the hospital. That would give him some more water, but it didn't really help him that much. Unless…

...suddenly a memory came to his mind, of watching his parents train.

"Unison Raid!" both Juvia and Gray shouted as a sparkling explosion of Ice and Water shot into the forest behind the Fullbuster house.

"Hey, Mommy, Daddy?" Storm asked as he sat cross-legged on the lawn behind them.

"Yes, darling?" Juvia asked.

"How come you two can do a unison raid so easy? I mean, I know trust has something to do with and since you guys are married I guess you trust each other. But is there another reason it comes so easy?"

"I guess it's because Ice magic and Water magic are so similar," Gray said with a shrug.

"Really?" Storm asked. "Can either of you do the other's magic?"

"No," Gray answered, before thinking for a bit, and then shrugging. "But then again, I don't think either of us have really tried."

"Why not?" Storm asked.

"Well, we already have our unison raid," Juvia said. "So there's really no reason for us to learn the other's. We can just combine them at will and make them stronger than they would be if just one of us learned other."

...Storm gritted his teeth. Just because his parents had never tried the other's magic didn't mean it wasn't possible. Especially if they were so similar…

Well, there was only one way to find out.

"Water Slicer!" Storm shouted, sending another attack his foes way to buy him some time to dash towards the fountain. He could hear her coming after him, getting closer with each step he took. He changed to water body, hoping that would speed him up, but he could still feel her gaining on him.

"WHAT IS HE DOING!?" Gray screeched.

"Storm, no!" Juvia cried.

Storm all but jumped into the fountain, whirling on his heel to face his opponent just as she landed in the water behind him.

Here goes nothing…

He thought as he raised his arms and shouted "FREEZE!"

The water splashed up around them and then froze solid, encasing them both in ice.

Storm let out a sigh of relief. It worked! He changed back to water body, allowing himself to slip out of the of the case of ice and slither his way to freedom, leaving his opponent trapped. Once outside he changed back to normal.

"Water geyser!" he shouted. And explosion of water erupted from the bottom of the giant ice cube, sending it shooting high into the air. The ice spun around several times before crashing back to the pavement, shattering into hundreds of little pieces. The crowd gathered around shrieked and backed away as the woman struggled to her feet, coughing and shuddering. An orb of water landed on top of her, sucking her into its center.

"FREEZE!" Storm called again, turning the orb to solid ice.

"Water Nebula!" a helix of water struck the back of the orb, sending it rolling down a hill like a bouncy ball.

"He's...he's using ice magic?" Juvia asked as she watched on. "But how?"

Gray just sniffled next to her, wiping his eyes on the back of his hand. "That's my boy!"

The ice orb rolled straight into a building before it finally shattered.

"Water geyser!"

The woman was shot straight into the air before she even had a chance to stand. Another pillar of water propelled a translucent boy into the air so that he could hover over her and drop kick her straight in the stomach, sending her plummeting back to the ground where she bounced once before the boy swirled back down, grabbed her by the waist, spun her around several times in a watery vortex before tossing her into another building.

The woman growled as she pushed herself up. "You little brat! Burning sand!"

A pillar of steaming hot sand shot right into the translucent boy, sending off clouds of steam as he screamed in pain.

"OUCH! Fr-fr-freeze!" His body changed to ice, cooling the attack. The ice shattered to reveal Storm, now back to normal underneath it, panting and shuddering.

"Ow, that really hurt!"

"Really, well how about this. Sand boiler!"

The ground underneath Storm turned to smoldering hot quicksand, sucking him into its cinging depths.

"AUGH!"

"Storm!" both Fullbuster parents screeched.

"Oh, no, please, someone help him!" Juvia sobbed.

"Get away from my boy you sandy creep!" Gray seethed.

"AUGH! OUCH! AH-AH-AH!" Storm bellowed as he fought against the burning hot sand sucking him in.

"Hm. Painful, is it? I must say you put up a good fight, but I, Sina of the Sand, always win," the woman said in a calm voice.

"Not…" Storm choked back sobs as he spoke. "Not today. Water geyser!"

A blast of water managed to shoot Storm out of the sand's grip, but it fizzled and dissolved before it could carry him far, leaving him curled up in a pained ball on the ground.

"Ow...ow, ow, ow," Storm grumbled as he looked over his many burns and boils.

""I must say I am impressed," Sina said. "For such a young child you put up a good fight. But you're still only a child."

Storm gritted his teeth as he stood to his feet.

"Forget the fight, just get out of there!" Gray screamed.

"Storm, no!"

"Just a kid, huh?" Storm asked, a smile on his face. "Well, then, this is going to be really embarrassing for you. WATER NEBULA!"

"Sand bake!"

The two spells merged once again. Storm changed back to water body and sped along behind Sina. As he circled around her he kept shouting:

"Water Nebula! Water Nebula!"

Helix of water after helix of water shot out at Sina, practically overwhelming her in attacks. Before long she was surrounded by blasting water. Storm changed back to his normal self outside the circle before declaring:

"Now all I have to do is wait you out!"

"Sand-gurgle-Sand back! Sand Boi-glub glub-Boil! Sand-"

"Cleanse!"

All the sand disappeared from the water. Storm's knees began to buckle. He put a hand to his head. His vision doubled. The water nebulas began to weaken-

"Come on, buddy! Hang in there, you can do it!" Gray shouted.

"Don't give up, darling!" Juvia joined in.

"You can do it, Storm!" Gray added.

Storm took a deep breath as he straightened himself up. He was tired, beyond tired, but he knew he couldn't give up. His parents, his little brother and sister, and a big part of his guild family were in there. He had to save them!

"Water Slicer!" he shouted, sending more attacks into the already swirling circle, making the surge even stronger.

"Cleanse! Water geyser! Cleanse! Vortex, Cleanse!"

A glowing, pulsing, shuddering, pillar like vortex began to grow. After a few second though, it released, sending a gush of water all over the street.

Sina lay still at the center of the puddle, eyes wide as he body shook uncontrollably and she coughed up water.

"Fr-freeze," Storm said, freezing the whole puddle to keep the weakened opponent in place. He fell to his knees, panting. He could tell Sina was done. She had no energy left to go on, not to mention she was frozen and half-drowned. Storm fell onto his back, lying there, panting, hoping the other five would win too.

"He...he did it!" Juvia gasped.

"THAT'S MY BOY!" Gray shouted.

Juvia smiled, tears in her eyes. "Storm...you've grown up so much!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Oof!"

"Ouch!"

"Wee!"

"Ergh!"

"Huh?"

Elena and her clones grunted as they all tumbled out and onto-

"We're...on the roof…?" one of them asked.

"But that's not fair!" Another one sobbed. "We were just about to win!"

Crack! Crack! Boom!

A crimson explosion went off in the middle of their group, sending them all flying to various corners of the roof.

Nashi landed right where the explosion had gone off, her wings still burning on her back. She glowered at the five women, teeth gritted and glistening in the light of her wings as she looked over each of them.

They all really do look the same, she thought to herself. This might be harder than I thought.

"Ugh! You again!" one of the clones gagged. "Haven't you done enough for one day? Psh! What are you even going to do? Shabby little pip squeak like you must almost be out of magic energy! So pathetic!"

That one must be disgust, Nashi decided.

"Little brat! I'm going to teach you a lesson!" another clone shouted, charging towards Nashi, a knife in hand.

"Nashi, no!" Lucy screamed.

"Get away from her!" Natsu thundered.

Nashi quickly sidestepped the clone with the knife, ignited her fists into sparkling, crimson flames. That one's anger!

"You're so unfair and mean!" yet another clone sobbed as it lifted a couple of bricks using telekinesis. "Why do you have to spoil everything!"

That's sadness! Nashi thought as she flapped her wings and flew above the bricks, that then began to follow her.

"Uh-oh," she squeaked as she took off flying to try and outrun them, which didn't work. They just kept gaining on her. She squeaked in fear again as she flipped over, flying backwards and sending blasts of crimson flames at the bricks, exploding each as the balls of fire hit them.

"Oh, look at her!" yet another clone said. "She's keeping up with us! Oh, what fun!"

And that's excitement, that means that one must be happiness!

Nashi flew to the last clone that was just smiling brightly as she watched on. Landing in front of her, Nashi clapped her hands together.

"Titan Fire Secret Arts! Titaness of Protection," Nashi began the incantation just as a piece of wood from a broken bird coop smacked her in the back of the head, she winced, but still focused sputtering pink flames forming in her open, held out palms. "See the harm inflicted onto my dear ones and allow your flame to deal out justice until the wrongs have been put right. Wrath of Rhea!"

The flames shot over the happy clone and burst into hot, sputtering flame. The happy clone screamed as she fell to her knees, writhing in pain.

The other clones charged Nashi. Nashi whirled about and shot several Thea flames at them, trying to keep them back. But for every one shot she threw at the other four clones, she also shot one at Happiness.

"What is she doing!?" Natsu screeched. "Why is she focusing so hard on that one! You've got five opponents Nashi, don't let them get to you!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Shing! Koree grinned as her entire body was covered in metal scales. She dove towards Laertes.

"Iron Dragon-"

"I wouldn't do that," Laertes said as he side stepped out of Koree's way. "There are torbernite crystals. One touch and you'll be dead, little girl."

"Oh!" Koree squeaked. "That would have been nice to know before picking bad guys to fight."

"Poison god-slayer..."

"Eek!"

Koree barely dodged the attack, and landed flat on her face upon the pavement. She quickly popped her head up, calling:

"Iron dragon roar!"

The roar managed to push Laertes a few feet back.

Huh. That's good to know. But I can't just keep roaring at him!

"Eep!" Koree dodged another attack.

There's gotta be something I can do, Koree thought as she somersaulted out of the way of another attack of poisonous gas.

But what? She thought, climbing up on a statue. "Iron dragon roar!"

If I touch him it's bye-bye for me!

Laertes pushed the statue with his crystal hand, sending it toppled over, dumping Koree onto the pavement.

"Koree!" Levy cried.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Gajeel shouted.

"Oof!" Koree said as she landed face first on the sidewalk. "C'mon, think, what would the other dragon slayers do?"

"God-slayer-"

"Yikes!" she jumped aside, cartwheeling to safety.

"C'mon, think! What would they do? Dad? Uncle Natsu? Uncle Laxus? Aunt Wendy? Uncle Erik? Wait, that's it! Persephone!"

Koree shouted to her sister, who was currently sending archive saw after archive saw at the numerous screens Samson was throwing her way.

"Sephy, I need you to look something up for me!"

"I'm a bit busy, sis!" Persephone shouted back, blocking another attack.

"Poison pillar!"

"Ack!" Koree barely jumped out of the way of a poisonous blast of energy that exploded from right where she had been standing. "And I'm about to get killed over here so help me out!"

"Poisonous rebuke!"

"Eek!" Koree jumped just as an explosion of poisonous gas went off right where her head had been.

"THAT'S NOT AN OVEREZAGGERATION EITHER, I'M GONNA DIE!"

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, WHAT IS IT!?"

"I'M THINKING IT, USE YOUR TELEPATHY AND SEND ME THE GOODS SOON!"

"FINE!" Persephone opened a new screen, furiously typing away as she shot more saw at more of Samson's attacks.

"Koree, you're kidding, right?" Persephone asked.

"Nope," Koree said, dodging another attack.

"You know if this goes wrong you'll die, right?"

"Well, I'm gonna die anyway, so might as well-AH!" another explosion went off over Koree's head. "JUST SEND ME WHATEVER YOU FOUND!"

Persephone did so.

"THAT'S IT!?"

"I'm sorry, I-OUCH!" One of Samson's screens finally found their mark on the back of Persephone's skull.

"Sephy! Okay, I got it, just focus on your own fight!" Koree said, running straight towards Laertes rather than dodging his attacks.

"Koree, don't!" Persephone shouted!"

"Poisonous wave," Laertes said, sending a wave of poisonous gas Koree's way. Koree gulped, closed her eyes, then exhaled deeply-

"Is she…" Levy's voice quavered.

"DON'T DO IT!" Gajeel screamed.

Koree inhaled deeply, sucking all of the poisonous gas into her lungs.

"KOREE, NO!" Persephone screamed.

"KOREE!" Levy cried.

"NO!" Gajeel thundered.

"Koree!" Persephone pushed herself to her feet, running to her sister, tears in her eyes. How could Koree be so stupid!? As she approached her twin she was suddenly taken aback.

Koree's scales, usually a dark, iron gray were now trimmed by a deep crimson. The scales around her eyes were a bright red, as were her claws. Koree sucked up the last of the poison, then smiled widely and wickedly at Laertes.

"What!?" the poison god-slayer asked. "But how, you should be dead!?"

"Did she just…" Levy asked, turning to Gajeel who just started, jaw slack and tears in his eyes.

Koree took in another deep breath. "Iron Poison Dragon…"

Laertes took a step back as Koree shouted:

"ROAR!"

A tornado of red and gray burst out of Koree's mouth, striking Laertes in the chest and sending him backwards.

"Told you it would work," Koree smirked to her sister, who just smiled, brushing her tears away.

"Yeah, you did."

Fwoosh!

Crash!

Persephone blocked another one of Samson's screens with hers, shattering them both.

Samson's frown deepened as he glared at Persephone. "So, what, we're just gonna keep breaking each other's screens until one of us gives up?"

Persephone looked at the thousands of shards surrounding them. "Nah, I think this will do."

She stomped on the ground. All of the shards trembled and then lifted into the air, swarming above her into one large cloud and shrapnel.

"She...she can control them even when they're broken!?" Samson's voice trembled.

"ARCHIVE CLONES!" Persephone shouted. The broken pieces divided themselves, twisting and clinking together until they'd morphed into colorful, grotesque humanoid forms, four of them. All of the humanoids charged towards Samson, punching, kicking, even jumping on top of them. He swung at them, sent more screens at them, but everytime he knocked one of the clones over they reformed. The more screens he broke, the more clones formed.

"She...she's using my own magic against me!" he shrieked. "How is that possible? I've never even heard of an archive wizard using broken screens before, much less making something out of them!"

"Guess you've never heard of thinking-" Persephone snapped her fingers and a cube formed around Samson. "-outside the box."

"Really?" Koree peaked over from her fight, an unamused scowl on her face. "Puns? Now?"

"JUST WORRY ABOUT YOUR FIGHT AND LET ME FOCUS ON MINE!"

"HEY!" Samson began beating against the screens of the cube. "LET ME OUT!"

"Sorry, only me, my folks, or my sister can get you out of that," Persephone grinned.

"And I ain't letting you out!" Koree answered as she leapt onto Laertes shoulder.

"I SAID FOCUS ON YOUR OWN FIGHT!"

"She makes things from broken screens and she's mastered protective cube…" Laertes' eyes widened. "THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT! YOU'D HAVE TO BE THE STRONGEST ARCHIVE WIZARD TO HAVE EVER LIVED TO DO ALL THAT!?"

"Yeah, and," Persephone shrugged.

As Persephone continued taunting Samson, Koree locked her legs around Laertes neck, scratching furiously at his eyes with her claws.

"Augh!" Laertes began beating against Koree's legs, trying to get the vicious little creature off him. He finally got a hold of one of her arms with his crystal hand and jerked her off his neck. He held her out at arm's length, smiling as he thought of watching the girl's energy slip away. He was absolutely shocked when, instead, Koree pulled up, bit onto one of the crystals, tore a chunk off, and chewed it down.

"WHAT-" he thundered as he felt her magic energy increase rather than dwindle away.

"I'm an iron-poison dragon slayer now, poison only makes me stronger!" Koree said as she turned her arm into an iron club coated in poisonous gas and punched Laertes in the face with it.

"If that's the case, how come I was able to beat up your little friend? He's a poison dragon slayer as well. But I'm a poison god-slayer, I'm stronger than you dragons!"

"Maybe because he didn't have two elements?" Koree shrugged, changing both of her hands to spinning swords. "But it doesn't really matter, because you're fighting me and I'm gonna kick your butt!" She slashed at his crystal arm with both swords. Laertes lifted it out of her grasp, ready to smash her on the head with it, but she, instead dove underneath him, between his legs, nicking each ankle with the tips of her swords. This caused Laertes's legs to give out, sending him to his knees. Koree jumped back to her feet and swung both swords at his crystalized arm, the blades spinning and whirring wildly as she did so.

The impact caused the crystals to shatter and sent Laertes tumbling to the side. He lifted his head just in time to see Koree take a deep breath in, sucking the crystal shards into her mouth as she did so. He all but gagged in disgust as her magic power jumped up even more.

"I just ate your power boost, and every attack you sent me, making me stronger while you get weaker, so tell me big guy, whatcha gonna do?" Koree asked in a mocking voice as she dance side to side. "Huh? Huh? Whatcha gonna d-"

Laertes let out a grumble before kicking Koree square in the face and sending her flying on her back.

"Oh, that's what you're gonna do," she groaned as she sat back up just in time to see more crystals growing on his arm.

"Aw, c'mon, that's not even fair!" Koree whined, kicking her feet in aggravation.

"You really think a whiny little brat like you is able to stop me?" Laertes asked. "I've beaten wizards far stronger than you in that past. What makes you think you even have a chance!"

"I dunno," Koree shrugged. "Just thought I'd give it a shot. Oh, by the way, watch your head!"

Koree shot a metal buzz saw at Laertes's head, which he promptly doged.

"You missed," he said with a smug smile.

"Did I though?" Koree asked.

Before Laertes could answer a rather large lamp post landed right on top of him and Koree.

"Ouch!" he grumbled before turning to Koree, arms and chest pinned under the post. "Foolish, girl now you're trapped as w-"

Laertes stopped as he noticed Koree standing up, perfectly fine, bits of the metal post still sticking out of her mouth.

"I'm an IRON poison dragon slayer, remember? Now, I think I've got enough energy. Sis, gimme a boost!"

Persephone shot forward a set of stair-step like screens which Koree ran up before taking a wild dive off the top one, headed straight for Laertes.

"IRON POISON DRAGON CRUSHING FANG!" she shouted as she held both hands out infront of her. A mist of poison filled with sharp, iron bits of shrapnel came thundering down on top of Laertes in the shape of a dragon head, it's mouth open and chomping. Laertes could barely even scream before the attack hit him, the dragon's mouth engulfing his entire head as the tiny metal blades scoured over his skin, burning because of the poison they were doused in.

The spell was so powerful it kept Koree airborne. She screamed as she put all of her energy into the attack.

"Shoot! This guy's tough!" she said as she sensed that though Laertes was taking a beating, it still wasn't enough to keep him down.

"F-f-fight me all you want," Laertes cried from within the cloud of poison and iron. "Even pinned down and over-overwhelmed by your pitiful clouds...I'm still stronger than you!"

Persephone gritted her teeth as she tried to think. This guy was tougher than either of them. There was one possible solution, but it would be hard to pull off, especially seeing as neither she nor Koree had done it before and their magic types were pretty different.

Still, she called to Koree using her telepathic link.

"I've got an idea."

"What?"

"But it may not work."

"Are you going to tell me what it is or just complain about how stupid of an idea it is?"

"I didn't say it was stupid, I said it would be hard to do!"

"So spill it!"

After a few seconds Koree's attack stopped. Laertes took the opportunity to push the pole off himself and stand up. He was cut to near ribbons, but still very much standing and with a lot of fight left in him. He turned to find Koree and Persephone standing side by side, Persephone calling forth dozens of screens.

"Sure about this?" she asked.

"Well, we are twins so if anyone can pull this off we can," Koree said.

Persephone nodded. "Right."

She slammed all the screens onto the ground, shattering them and then lifting the shards in a cloud above her head.

"Archive Chaos!" she shouted, holding one hand above her head as the shards began to dance in a circle above her head.

"Iron Poison Dragon Spiral Jaw!" Koree called, holding her hand above her head, a spiral of poison and a spiral of iron twisting above her head.

The twins then brought their hands down and together, palm to palm.

"Are...are they going to…" Levy stuttered.

"No way!" Gajeel breathed.

"REDFOX TWINS UNISON RAID!" both girls screamed, locking fingers and thrusting their hands forward. Their two attacks merged and combined,

Laertes barely even had time to gasp. His eyes widened, there was no way! These two magics were so different, how were they-

Then it hit him, literally and painfully. Each of the archive shards found a nerve, or pressure point, or pain receptor and attacked them. Right behind them came and iron shard, not only driving the archive one deeper into his flesh, but also imbedding itself in afterwards. The parts of his body that weren't all but screaming in pain were left numb and useless. The poison coating all of the shards only added insult to injury, stinging the already injured parts of his body.

By the time the attack finished all her could do was collapse. His limbs were practically useless. He couldn't even force himself to crawl. His arms and legs wouldn't respond.

Koree and Persephone panted as they looked over their work. Then they smiled, lifted their arms and fist-bumped before collapsing to the ground, exhausted.

"Those are my babies!" Gajeel clapped, tears in his eyes. "Those are my girls! Look at my rugrats! Look at 'em kicking butt like their old man!"

Levy could only smile, tears of pride in her eyes as well. My, my, how their girls had grown!

"So, should we go look for the others?" Koree panted.

"You go look if you want. I'm keepin' an eye on these two."

"Why do I gotta go?"

"'Cuz it's your idea."

"Good point," Koree grumbled as she hoisted herself onto her feet and began stumbling off to look for her friends.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

All of Elena's clones suddenly disappeared, leaving only the one being burned to a crisp by Nashi's Wrath of Rhea spell.

Nashi let out a loud sigh of relief as she collapsed onto her knees gasping for breath.

"H...how…?" Elena asked as the flames surrounding her began to fade.

"Persephone was tracking all of your clones through her archive, and there was always one of you hidden away in the middle of nowhere," Nashi explained as she turned to Elena. "I figured it was because that was the real you and if I could defeat that one the rest of your clones would go away."

"Clever girl," Elena hissed as she stood to her feet. "But you forgot to account for one thing."

Debris being tossed upon the roof by all the other fights going on down below began rising in the air. "You didn't beat me. Just hurt me enough to get rid of my clones. And now you're almost all out of magic energy!"

Nashi's eyes grew wide at the sight of all the debris flying above her.

"NASHI, NO!" both Natsu and Lucy screamed as they helplessly watched on.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Requip!" Roman shouted, his staff disappearing and being replaced by two sets of nunchucks.

"Earthen blades," his foe called, sending bits of earth in the shape of throwing knives his way. Roman twirled his nunchucks as he dove forward, sliding on his knees under the first attack, swing one nunchuck up to shatter the blades as they were over his head. He'd barely hopped back to his feet as three more earthen weapons were shot his way. Leaning to one side, then the other he smashed the first two to dust with his weapons. The third looked as if it would hit him, though.

"Roman, look out!" Erza shrieked.

Roman leaned back, letting the arrow fly over him and imbed itself in the ground behind him.

"I know you," the buff woman fighting Roman said, an evil smile on her face. "You're the son of Titania."

Roman just stared at her, an indiscernible expression on his face.

Erza held a hand to her mouth. This woman was about to go mad on her son just because of her reputation. Jellal set a hand on her shoulder before shouting:

"Don't let her frighten you Roman! You can do this! Fight!"

"Well then," the woman cracked her knuckles as well as her neck. "Let's see what you've got, fairy boy! Earthen spiral!"

The ground below Roman shot towards the sky, creating a spiralling staircase that spun around, and around, and around, as it rose higher and higher and higher.

Roman stumbled a bit as he was shot in the air, but quickly recovered, stood to his feet and called:

"Requip!"

His nunchucks disappeared and were replaced by a bull whip. He popped the whip towards a lamp post, wrapping it around the neck of the lamp leaning over the street before jumping off and swinging back towards the ground. As he was still airborne he jerked the whip free, and popped it around the woman's neck.

She gagged as she stumbled back onto her bum while Roman landed. He jerked on the whip, using the momentum of his landing to send the woman crashing into the hospital's nearby sign.

"Oof!" she grunted as she stood up. "Not bad for a pipsqueak. But it's going to take more than that. Earth club!"

Several club like structures shot out of the earth straight at Roman.

"Yikes!" he squeaked before jumping to avoid one of the clubs. He, of course, landed right back onto it.

His foe took advantage of this, sending the cloud farting every which way, forcing Roman to hold on for dear life. He squinted as he tried to find a way out, his whip still in hand. What could he use to swing off of? Clock, no. Flower pot, no. Tree?

The woman brought the club back towards her. As it came flying back with the terrified little boy still clinging to it, she called forth some dirt to incase her fist in. As the club passed under her, she raised her fist up and brought it down on his back-

"ROMAN!" both Jellal and Erza screamed.

-the minute she touched the boy he fizzled from existence.

"Huh? What is this? Some kind of illusion?" she asked just as she felt a sharp kick to the back of her head.

"Requip!" Roman called as he landed right on top of her from his jump out of the tree. Dozens of throwing stars appeared above him which he used to pin the woman to ground by her clothes.

"Oh, come on!" She shouted. "I just got this outfit!"

The ground seemingly opened up and engulfed both her and Roman.

"Where'd he go!?" Erza screeched.

"Roman? Roman!" Jellal shouted.

Like a mole the woman dragged Roman through the ground before spitting him up onto the concrete.

"Ugh!" Roman coughed up dirt before a club of earth hit him in the gut and tossed him aside.

"You're a sneaky little bugger, I'll give you that," the woman stated as she sauntered toward him. "But you're no match for old Wilma in a one-on-one battle!"

She set her foot on Roman's back, or tried to because the minute she touched him he fizzled from existence again.

"Wha-Oof!"

A bow staff whacked her legs out from under her from behind.

"You are a slow learned," Roman said before calling "Requip!"

The nunchucks reappeared. As Wilma sat back up she was smacked in the back of the head with a nunchuk. She growled and went to punch Roman with her earth covered fist. He, however, caught it with the chain of his nunchuck. Grabbing either staff with both hands he gave them a twist, and knocked the woman off balance, as well as cracking her earthen gauntlet, turning it to dust. He then struck her in the back of the head again, sending her face first into the ground.

She disappeared back into the earth. Roman followed after her, requpping his throwing stars and using his telekinesis to send them into the ground.

Wilma grunted as a few, or actually several, of the throwing stars found their mark, cutting her skin or embedding into her back. She hand't suggested such a fight from such a tiny little boy, son of Titania or not!

She popped out of the ground and looked behind her. He was still on her tail! This was crazy, why was she running from a child. She stood to her feet to face him, then heard a small voice calling:

"Roman? Nashi? Storm?"

She turned to find one of the other children, one of the teal-haired twin girls stumbling along, calling for her friends. "Cato? Roman?"

She grinned evilly as she turned back to Roman. One look and she knew he'd noticed her too. His eyes had grown wide. This girl was in very rough shape. She was covered in scrapes and bruises and her magic energy was very low.

No doubt she's faced one of the others and lost, Wilma thought to herself. As she called forth several of her clubs.

"Earthen pommel!" she shouted, sending the attack towards the girl.

"KOREE!" Roman screeched, racing forward.

Koree turned to see the earth clubs coming towards her. She gasped hand held her arms out to block the blow-

-that never came.

Koree heard Roman cry out "REQUIP!"

Next she heard a gasp.

And then a Clunk!

She cautiously peaked one eye open, then gasped and turned to stare at the sight before her. Roman stood in front of her, dressed in a chainmail robe. Underneath the robe were black pants and boots. He had a wide brimmed, cone-shaped, black and red hat on his head. His arms, legs, and chest were protected by black and red armor plating. He held a large, circular shield with bladed edges out in front of him as he stood in a lunge, his heels dug into the ground.

"Koree are you okay," he asked, turning his head towards her, revealing his lower face was covered by a black scarf, no doubt meant to keep dust or other such things from choking him.

Koree stared, jaw open a little while longer, before nodding and giving a small "Mm-hmm."

"Is that-" Jellal breathed, eyes wide with wonder.

"The Fusegu Armor," Erza confirmed, eyes shining in pride. "He finally did it!"

Roman dug his heels deeper into the ground as he pushed back against Wilma's attacking, crumbling it.

"Wha-" she gasped just as Roman tossed the shield at her like a frisbee. It bounced of her head, leaving a nasty gash on her brow before spinning back into Roman's hands.

"Oh, so what?" she asked. "You think a little outfit change will help you? EARTH SPIN BLADE!"

A spinning saucer of earth came rushing at Roman. He lifted his wrist, blocking it with his black, armor guard, causing the saucer to shatter instantly.

Wilma gasped, then gritted her teeth. "Earth raining blades!"

Dozens, upon hundreds of earth knives shot towards Roman.

"Roman!" Koree screeched as he friend was hidden from view in a cloud of earth and dust.

Wilma smiled, confident the boy would be overwhelmed by her attack. Roman, however, walked calmly out of the cloud, not a scratch in sight.

"Wha-that did nothing!?" Wilma gasped. "How is that possible! Earth club, triple attack!"

Three Earth clubs shot at Roman. He lifted his shield and blocked the first, causing it to crumble. He then used the bladed edge of the knife to slice the other two clubs in half, reducing them to dust.

Wilma cringed from both shock and disgust. How was this kid destroying all of her attacks?

Roman kept calmly walking towards her.

Now she started to panic a bit. None of her attacks seemed to be hurting him anymore! And he just kept walking straight towards her.

"Earth wall!" she shouted, raising a dirt barrier between her and the boy.

Schwing!

With one swing of his shield Roman cut the wall in two, dissolving the top part into a cloud of dust.

"Wha-" Wilma shouted just as she felt another slicing smack against her face, knocking her back onto her back. She'd barely hit the ground when she felt herself being lifted into the air...by seemingly nothing.

Using his telekinesis Roman lifted Wilma into the air and tossed her into the tree he'd swung out of earlier. He then tossed the shield into the air, slicing a tree branch from the trunk and sending it crashing onto the opponent.

"AUGH!" Wilma shouted as she was squished. "Earth wildfire!"

Burning hot tendrils of dirt in the shape of flames shot towards Roman. This was one of her more complicated spells, surely this would stop him.

The first tendril rushed towards Roman's face. He lifted the shield, slicing it with the edge, turning it to dust. Two more aimed towards him, he lifted the shield and blocked it. Five more surrounded him and tried to burn him, but they were practically useless against the armor. Roman sliced each of them with his shield, turning them all to dust.

"EH!?" Wilma screeched. "EARTH WILDFIRE INFERNO! AND CHAOS!"

A legion of earth shaped flames and spikes aimed towards Roman. He tossed the shield toward them, cutting them all in half with one fail swoop.

"I-eh-uh!" Wilma sputtered. How was this kid so-

The shield spun towards her again, slicing yet another gash into her face. Wilma was very dizzy and losing blood. She began to go cross eyed. But still sent out a rain of earthen clubs. Roman jumped, letting one go under him before landing on top of it and riding it into the air. Two more clubs came swerving towards them. He cut them both to nonexistence with ease. He then back flipped off the club he was riding one, slicing it down the center by throwing the shield at it. It spun back into his hand just as he began to fall down ward.

He tucked himself into a ball, holding the shield to one side of his body. He then began spinning himself, turning himself and the shield into a living buzz saw that rolled down one of the clubs, destroying it completely. As he reached the end he straightened himself up and jumped off it, tossing the shield out in front of him. The shield bounced off three of the clubs multiple times at lightning speed, disintegrating them. Roman landed, feet firmly planted as he reached out a hand and called the shield back. He turned back towards Wilma, and marched towards her.

She began to tremble, desperately clawing at the ground and throwing chunks of dirt at him rather than resorting to magic. Roman blocked each chunk tossed at him without a struggle. He finally reached her and punched her square in the head, knocking her out cold, blood trickling down her face from the numerous cuts he'd left on her forehead and brow.

"Whoa," Koree breathed. "You're actually kinda scary, y'know that?"

"You better get somewhere safe," Roman said, ignoring her first comment. "At least until your magic energy comes back."

"Right, guess I'll go back to Sephy," Koree nodded as she scuffled off, still a little freaked out by Roman's fight.

"Son of Titania, indeed," Jellal smiled, setting his arm around Erza's shoulder. "He's turning out to be just like you.

Erza could only smile in pride.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Oof!" Nashi grunted as a chunk of dirt hit her in the gut, tossing her backwards. She spread her wings to fly away just as a scrap of metal flew straight at her.

"Nashi!" Lucy screamed.

Nashi ducked out of the way, but not soon enough. The scrap metal grazed her just below her rib right rib cage.

"AUGH!" Nashi cried out as she put a hand to her wounded side, blood seeping through her fingers.

"She's hurt!" Natsu shouted, red beginning to cloud his vision.

"Thea's fury!" Nashi shouted, tossing a crimson fire ball at Elena. As she did so her wings began to fade. "Uh-oh!"

"Like I said, you're almost out!" Elean snickered as Nashi began to lower and fall from the sky, before finally crashing to the rooftop.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

The ground shook as a concussive BOOM filled the air as two tornadoes collided into each other.

Cato squinted as he focused on his spell. He was still weak from casting Thunder Palace, but quitting wasn't an option. He glanced at his opponent. He was an older man with a long white mustache. Clearly he was a wind wizard. What spells to Cato have the could combat this.

The tornadoes kept spinning against each other until they had meshed into one. Cato felt Erigor try to pull the tornado from him. He pulled on it as well. He needed something to tip the odds in his favor.

"Memory make lighting blast!"

Yellow electricity shot into the tornado, tossing and swirling about a little bit before jumping out and shocking Erigor. The wind wizard flew backwards, smacking into a pillar near the front of the hospital. Cato now having full control of the tornado, sucked Erigor up into it, spinning him around and around and shooting him into the air. Erigor, however, cast a small gale of wind underneath himself and lower himself harmlessly to the ground.

"Interesting technique," he said. "Wait until the opportune moment when I think I'm about to get the upper hand to strike. You have quite a bit of restraint for one so young."

Cato's brow furrowed. Was this guy trying to distract him?

"Maybe if I'd shown such restraint in my younger days I wouldn't be where I am now."

"Hm?" Cato asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Storm shreds!"

Sharp, short, knife-like winds darted towards Cato.

"Memory make wood wall!" Cato shouted, a tree sprouting up in the shape of a rectangle sprouting up in front of him. Cato ducked behind it to shield himself from the attack, but with little success. The sharp winds cut through the wood like a knife through butter, sending splinters raining down on Cato, forcing him to roll out of the way before he was completely covered in tiny wooden stakes.

"Ouch!" he cried as he scurried out of the shrapnel's path, not escaping the entire brunit of the attack as some of the splinters embedded themselves in his back.

More sharp winds collided into Cato's side, sending him flying.

"Ugh! Memory make Ice Knife!" Cato shouted. Ice blades flew out from his hand, colliding with the wind wones chasing him. They only succeeded in stopping Erigor's attack, though, shattering both sets into non existence. They did nothing to harm the enemy, nor to soften the blow as Cato crashed back to the ground.

Laxus cringed as he watched his son bounce against the pavement of the sidewalk.

"Is he…" Mirajane panted as she pushed. "Is he alright?"

"Yeah," Laxus lied. "He'll be fine."

Cato pushed himself back onto his feet.

"Storm Bringer!"

"Yikes!" Cato squealed as he was sucked up into a tornado.

Oh no! He thought as he spun around and around and around. Okay, how did Nashi handle this earlier….umm…

Erigor sighed. Poor little fairy boy didn't stand a-

Crunch!

"Oof!" Erigor fell onto his back as a large chunk of stone hit him. He could hear a faint voice from inside the tornado call:

"Memory make Raining Stone!"

Erigor pushed himself up just in time to see several stones riding along in his tornado before flying out, straight towards him. He jumped, flew, ducked, dodged to get away from the rocks, but some still struck him before he was able to get fully airborne. Now flying in the air where he had the advantage he didn't think he would need when facing a child, he turned back to the tornado.

"Memory Make Fire Talon!"

A burst of fire arose from the center of the tornado as Cato flew out of it, two flames ignited on his feet. Cato used the force to propel himself straight towards Erigor, locking his arms around the older man's waist as they shot forward, straight into the pillar from before.

Erigor gasped as the pillar cracked under the impact. He got me again! Waiting once more for an opening! This kid's sharp, I can't let my guard down even for a second. Before he even recovered her felt a hard punch to the jaw.

"Memory Make Stone Fist!" the stone disappeared from around Cato's hand as he dropped back to the ground. Before he hit it though, he called:

"Memory Make Wool Pillow!"

A pink, fluffy substance broke Cato's fall and he bounced off it, somersaulting back onto his feet before taking the cloud away, letting Erigor hit the cold, hard pavement.

"Oof! Jerk!" Erigor grumbled.

"Heh," Laxus grinned. Cato was actually holding his own against this guy.

"What did you mean when you said earlier if you were like me you wouldn't be in this mess?" Cato asked, brows furrowed.

"What's it matter to you?" Erigor asked, slowly, shakily pushing himself up.

"Just curious," Cato shrugged.

Erigor sighed as he stood to his feet, clutching an injured arm to his side. "I was once a strong and powerful wizard. So powerful that I was approached on several occasions for lucrative assassination jobs. Because I had no restraint I took them, and ended up getting my guild's legal status revoked. Since that day I've been unable to lead a normal and wholesome life again. In short, I'm envious of you. Even as young as you are and in the heat of battle you've demonstrated great patience and control, watching a waiting for the right time to strike. Such as now! STORM SHREDS!"

"AH!" Cato screamed as knife-like wind blasts rained down on him.

"Cato, no!" Mirajane cried, voice strangled by another contraption.

"We need to get that screen out of here, she has to focus on pushing," a healer said.

"No, no, I have to see him!" Mirajane cried. "I have to see my son!"

Laxus gritted his teeth as he set and arm around Mirajane's shoulders, trying to comfort her.

"C'mon, Cato."

Cato fell onto his face as the attack continued slicing at his skin and clothes. By the time the attack ended he was trembling with pain.

Erigor smirked down at the child. "Pity, you really did have a lot of potential. But you're still no match for-"

"Memory Make Ice Geyser!"

Boom!

An icey explosion sent Erigor toppling backwards. "Ouch! Ergh!"

"You think this is going to help?" Cato asked in a weak voice as he struggled to his feet. "You think killing a hospital full of people is going to make your life better? Or help you make up for what you did wrong?"

"Well, it'll get Alteria's Children started, so, yes," Erigor answered.

"And you think a dark guild is going to help you. Dark guild don't help anyone! They're bad guys!"

Erigor rolled his head back and laughed. "Oh, you simple-minded child. There's no such thing as good guys or bad guys. Only people doing what they can to stay on top and survive! Wind Male!"

A flurry of white air surrounded Erigor like armor.

"Memory Make Water Slicer!"

A blast of water shot out at Erigor, but his wind male blew it straight back at Cato, who was barely able to duck in time.

"You see?" Erigor asked. "If all this turns out to be is a battle of good and evil, and I'm supposedly the bad guy, then how come I'm about to win?"

"Who said you were gonna win?" Cato asked, pressing a finger to both sides of his head.

"So you, the good guy, are going to beat me up? Isn't that a bad thing to do?"

"Not if it means protecting my family!" Cato answered. "Memory Make Father and Daughter Lightning Dragon Roars!"

Two yellow magic circles appeared next to Cato and shot forth two massive bursts of lightning magic.

"Eh?" Was all Erigor managed to say as the lightning blasts struck him, breaking through his wind male. He let out a yelp of pain, but it was not nearly as loud as the cry CAto gave out as he intensified the attack. Erigor's wind male was now completely gone, but he still dug his heels into the ground, trying to push back against the lightning despite the pain.

Two dragon roars at once!? He thought as he was quickly blown off his feet. Who is this kid?

Erigor bounced all the way down the street, lighting coursing through his body and up every pole, lamp post, or clock he came close to. Cato watched him go, then noticed something. The whirring noise that had been filling the air the whole time began to face. He turned and looked behind him. The wind wall entrapping the hospital was fading!

Cato let out a sigh of relief, then collapsed onto his knees, utterly exhausted.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"What!?" Elena shrieked as the wind barrier began to disappear.

Nashi smiled. One of her friends must have taken out that wind wizard.

"Ugh, no matter," Elena huffed. Raising her hand above her head, all the debrid turning to point at Nashi. "I've got other ways of eliminating my rivals."

She walked over to Nashi, an almost sad look on her face as she watched the little girl pant, limbs shaking.

"It's a shame, really. I was looking forward to having you as one of my children. But you're far too dangerous to keep alive," Elena said, snapping her finger, sending all the debris flying Nashi's way.

"NNNNNAAASSSHHHIIII!" Lucy's cry almost tore her throat.

"I suppose there are still your younger siblings," Elena shrugged.

BOOOOM!

The hospital shook, cracks formed all the way down the wall, smoke erupted from the rooftop. Crimson, pink, red, and orange flames burst out from Nashi, turning all the debris to ash.

"Wha-I thought she was-"

"GGRRAAUUUGGGHHH!"

Elena skipped like a stone thrown across a pond a top the roof. She looked up in shock at the seething little girl.

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM LAYLA AND IGNEEL!" Nashi screamed, crimson flames in her hands.

Elena smirked, despite the immense pain from that last punch. "Guess you still had a little juice left in you, eh? No matter, you're still running on fumes little girl!"

She pulled out the knife her anger clone had been using earlier. "A good thing I got this thing enchanted before coming hear. Slicing Pain!"

She pointed the knife at Nashi, the blade glowing a bright green.

Nashi took a deep breath. She wasn't sure if this was going to work, but those names she'd been hearing all day must have meant something. She held one hand out in front of her and called:

"ATLAS!"

A small, yellow and firey magic circle appeared in her palm. A slightly bigger and brighter one then appeared before it, followed by an even bigger and brighter one, and then another until their were four magic circles in front of her. Nashi's vision began to double. This was the absolute last drop of magic energy she had left. If this didn't do anything then she was done for.

"Activate!" Elena shouted. A burst of green magic shot towards Nashi. It hit the first magic circle, and began to hiss…

"What's happening? What is that spell?" Lucy asked, hands clasped to her chest.

"No idea, but it looks like it's eating Elena's attack!" Natsu said as the green beam of magic continued to get sucked into the first magic circle. As it swirled about inside of it it began to lose its color, going from green to white.

"No…"Lucy said as the blast made its way to the second magic circle, where is seemingly melted from a beam to a liquid. "Not eating it, breaking it down...those magic circles are converting the spell back into magic energy…"

The spell moved to the third magic circle where is spun around itself, faster and faster, ridding it of any specific elements of magic, leaving only the energy needed to cast the spell in the first place.

"...it's going to refuel Nashi's magic energy supply!" Lucy gasped as the spell made its way into the last magic circle and then into Nashi herself.

A bright yellow light first shined over Nashi's hand, then her arm, then her whole body. She took a deep breath and then smiled, feeling immediately refreshed.

"WHAT!?" Elena shrieked, taking a step back. "That can't be right! Slicing Pain activate!"

"ATLAS!" The four magic circles appeared in front of Nashi again and gave her another energy boost.

Nashi's grin widened all the more. "Sweet! So how about...IAPETUS!"

Nashi held both hands out to her sides. Black flames erupted in her palms, shooting straight up and twisting until they formed two fiery, black swords.

"Cool!" Nashi grinned, before narrowing her eyes at Elena. "Guess it's a good thing I've been training with Roman and Aunt Erza. HYAH!" She jumped to Elena, slashing down at her with the swords. Elena changed her body density, but it did her no good as the weapons were made of fire. She yelped in pain, and instead opted to try and stab Nashi with her knife.

"Eos!" Nashi's wings reappeared and she flew out of Elena's reach. She threw both swords at Elena, one missed, but the other went straight through her chest. It didn't kill her because of her body's density, but it clearly was hurting her judging by her pained yelps. Nashi snapped her fingers. Both swords exploded, sending Elena on her back.

Nashi held her palm out to Elena. "Iapetus!" Swirling black and smoking throwing stars made of metal flew from her palm, each finding their mark. Elena all gut growled from pain and frustration as she pointed the knife at Nashi again. She almost shook the ground with her shout of anger as a massive blast of green magic shot from her knife.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"ATLAS!" Nashi held the magic circles out in front of herself again. Same as before the circles converted the attack back into pure energy that it then transferred into Nashi. Unlike the times before, though, Elena didn't stop her attack.

"THERE'S ONLY SO MUCH ENERGY A BODY CAN TAKE!" she screamed. "SOONER OR LATER YOU'LL REACH YOUR LIMIT, AND WHEN YOU DO I'LL TAKE YOUR SIBLINGS AND ALL THE OTHER CHILDREN AND MAKE THE GREATEST AND STRONGEST GUILD THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!"

Nashi could definitely feel what Elena was talking about. Her hands were actually starting to burn a bit. Yes. She, a fire wizard, was starting to burn. Nashi didn't look worried at all, though. Instead she grinned.

"Styx reversal!" she said.

A fiery whirlpool suddenly replaced the magic circles. Elena's attack disappeared through it-

-another whirlpool opened just above her head and her own attack showered down on her head.

"YOW!" she shrieked, ceasing her attack. The pain was overwhelming, so much so that it blinded her. When her sight returned all she could do was shudder at her fatal mistake. Nashi's entire body was glowing a bright golden color from all the magic energy she'd taken in. Her wings were double the size they'd one been. A halo of pink fire surrounded her. In one hand a cackling ball of sparkling crimson shone, in the other she held a twisted, black scythe. Her hair danced above her head amongst the waves of magic power radiating off her. It was truly a sight to behold…

...if you weren't Elena.

Nashi glared at the woman before clapping her hands together. The crimson sparks spread all over the scythe, coating it. Nashi flapped her wings once before diving towards Elena, a loud and furious war cry ringing out from her throat. She swung the scythe at Elena, who could only change herself to be thin as air, though she knew that would do know good. The minute the scythe touched her the sparks coating it began to explode and didn't stop until the weapon had passed through her middle. Nashi wasted no time in raising the weapon over her head and swing downwards, cutting through Elena from the top of her head to her toes, leaving a trail of smoke and shimmering, smoldering sparks behind her.

Elena could only shout as Nashi then cut her from shoulder to shoulder, across the chest, through the abdomen, and then from her waist through to the top of her head. With each slash she gained momentum and picked up speed. The crimson flames coating the scythe also began to burn brighter, hotter, wilder.

"No, no, NO!" Elena screamed, but she knew. There was no way for her to stop this wild child! The attack continued on, masking both the child and the woman in a cloud of smoke. Everyone from inside the hospital could only stare in awe at the sight.

Finally the smoke cleared.

Elena lay shaking upon the ground, burnt and bleeding, unable to move. Nashi stood above her, panting. All her flames were gone, but she was still standing, glowering down at Elena.

"I…" Elena choked. "I...how did I...lose…"

"Because," Nashi answered between pants. "You messed with the wrong guild!"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen:

"Halt!"

Nashi turned to find several Rune Knights running towards her and Elena. Rather than pointing their weapons at Elena, though, they pointed them at Nashi.

"Huh?" Nashi asked.

"Don't move a muscle!" one of the knights shouted at her.

Nashi gasped as they surrounded her. Why were they getting onto her? She didn't do anything wrong! And she'd used up all of her boost from Atlas in that last attack…

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"No funny ideas, you!"

"Huh?" Storm looked up from where he had been lying down on his back with his eyes closed. A circle of Rune knights stood over him, their weapons pointed at him.

"What's going on?" he asked as he tried to sit up.

"Don't move!" the leader of the group said as he poked Storm in the chest.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Sephy!" Koree called as she ran back to her sister. "I saw Roman, he's oka- what's happening?"

A group of Rune knights stood around Persephone, two holding her by either arm.

"Hey, she's not the bad guy, they are!" Koree called, pointing to Laertes and Samson.

"Don't even think about it," a voice from behind her stated as he grabbed her arm.

"Hey, let go of me!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Put the shield down!"

Roman turned to find a group of Rune Knights running to him, weapons drawn.

"What's going on?" he wondered out loud.

"I said put the shield down! And put your hands in the air where I can see them!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"There's one!"

Cato looked up to find a group of Rune Knights walking towards him. He sighed in relief.

"I got one guys, he's right-" he called, only to be rudely interrupted by a-

"Stand down!" one of the knights pointed his weapon at Cato.

"Huh?" Cato took a step back, confused.

"Don't move! And put your hands up!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"BBBOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Nashi looked down as the crowd that had gathered around the hospital during the fights let out a loud chorus of-

"BBBBOOOOOOOOOO!"

"SILENCE!" an even louder voice called out from the crowd. Nashi jumped and turned to find-

"Hezim?" she squeaked, feeling uneasy under his judgemental gaze.

"I knew you'd do something like this," he seethed at her, causing her to cringe, before he amplified his voice for all to hear. "THESE CHILDREN HAVE INTERFERED IN AN OFFICIAL MAGIC COUNCIL INVESTIGATION, AS WELL AS CAUSE SEVERE DAMAGE TO PUBLIC PROPERTY!"

Nashi looked about, realizing that the roof as well as the outer walls of the hospital were littered with cracks.

"Oh, yeah, we did kinda tear things up…" she said bashfully.

"THEREFORE!" Hezim continued. "WE ARE TAKING THEM INTO CUSTO-"

CRASH!

Dust and rubble burst into the air, followed by a burst of smoke.

Nashi coughed as the dust engulfed her, then squeaked when she felt someone grab her by the waist. A pair of strong, powerful arms held her close as whoever was holding her took off-

-into the air?

As they flew out of the cloud of dust, Nashi turned to see who exactly it was that had grabbed her. A strange creature with black markings all over his skin, a pair of twisted horns growing out of his head, and a set of black, bat like wings held her tight as he hovered over the roof, eyes blazing as he glared down at the Rune Knights on the roof below.

Still, Nashi didn't scream or even struggle to get away. Instead she softly asked-

"Daddy?"

E.N.D. put a clawed hand to the side of his daughter's head to protect her ears as he let forth a loud, concussive roar that blew the rest of the dust away as well as shook the entire roof.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Stay down!" the Rune Knight said again as he put a foot against Storm's chest and pushed him into the ground.

"But, I don't understand," Storm whimpered. "What did I do wro-"

Schwing!

A cold gust of wind blew over Storm, knocking all the Rune Knights on their back, but leaving Storm unharmed. Storm sat up and looked behind him, gasping at the sight.

Gray stomped forward, black marks covering the entire left side of his body. He walked to stand in front of Storm, separating him from the Rune Knights.

"You've got about five seconds to get out of here," he said in a menacing voice before slamming his hand against his palm. "Before I slay you like the demons you are!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

CLUNK!

The Rune Knight holding Koree suddenly let go of her.

"Huh?" she wondered as she heard a-

CLINK! CLANK!

The two holding Persephone were smacked in the face by two metal poles and fell on their backs. The two clubs then turned to hooks, one grabbing Persephone by the waist, and the other grabbing Koree. Before they knew it both twins were in Gajeel's grasp, one girl tucked under each arm. His skin was dark as night, he had small iron spikes along his hairline, on his knuckles, and his shoulders and his eyes were steely gray.

"So you think you can just sweep in here and take my rugrats away from me, huh?" Gajeel thundered. "WELL JUST TRY AND TAKE 'EM OUT OF MY ARMS YA PUNKS!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Last chance! Put the shield down or we'll-"

Roman only clutched his shield tighter, ready to fight, even though he was feeling very, very tired.

FWOOM!

A bright yellow light swooshed out of the hospital and stopped just in front of Roman. Roman blinked as the light seared through his eyes. As his vision restored he gasped when he saw-

"Daddy?"

"I don't wish to fight any of you," Jellal said to the Rune Knights as he held an arm in front of Roman. "But take one step closer to my son and I'll end all of you!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"But...but I'm not the bad guy!" Cato insisted.

"I didn't ask if you were, I told you to stand down!"

"But why?" Cato's bottom lip trembled.

"Stop asking questions and-"

ZAP!

"AUGH!" all of the Rune Knights shook and convulsed as a yellow lightning bolt struck all of them at the same time.

A loud STOMP came from behind Cato who gasped and turned with a smile of relief on his face.

"Papa!"

Laxus glowered at the Rune Knights, lightning still coursing through his body, which only amplified his voice as he shouted:

"BACK AWAY FROM MY SON!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

E.N.D. let out another ear splitting roar. Even with her ears protected by her father's large hand, Nashi winced at the noise, causing E.N.D. to tighten his hold on her.

"You are interfering in official Magic Council-" Hezim began, but his eyes grew wide and he had to jump to the side, knocking several of his men over as a blast of fire shot right where he'd been standing.

"YOU AIN'T TAKING HER ANYWHERE!" E.N.D. bellowed, eyes narrowing, teeth gnashing. "NOW LAST CHANCE…"

The monster took in a deep breath before screaming, "LLLLEEEAAAVVVEEE!" sending shockwaves of fire bursting out in a circumference around him, shaking the Rune Knights watching right to their core.

"I'd do as he says if I were you," a warm voice said, catching everyone's attention.

"Councilman Warrod," Hezim gasped as the elder man made his way towards him, wind blowing through his leaf-like hair.

"Ever wonder why the term 'Fierce as a Mama Bear' is so popular, but you never hear anything about the Papa Bear?" Warrod asked.

"N...no," Hezim answered.

"Ha! Neither do I! But it's kinda funny, huh?"

"Eh…" Hezim could only arch an eyebrow in response. The Rune Knights all looked confusedly at each other. Even E.N.D. couldn't help but roll his eyes in annoyance.

"But, if I had to take a guess," Warrod continued. "I'd say it's because Papa Bears never leave anyone alive to tell the tale of just how terrifying they can be."

The Rune Knights all gave E.N.D. a wary look as he glared at them.

"That being said, I'd do as he says and leave," Warrod nodded as he turned to go back the way he came.

"Bu-bu-but! They interfered in my investigation! And look at all the damage they caused! Not to mention the danger they now present!"

"Oh, but can you blame them?" Warrod asked as he stopped to turn back towards Hezim. "Their parents and siblings were all in danger. Anyone in their situation would have done whatever it takes to save their loved ones. I'd hardly say their actions were a slight against you. And what do you mean dangerous?"

"LOOK AT WHAT THEY DID!" Hezim gestured to all the damage. "They're only young children! If they are capable of doing this now who knows what they'll do once they're older!"

"Ah, yes, exciting isn't it," Warrod smiled.

"Exciting!?" Hezim squeaked. "Children of this age should not possess this kind of power! They're not responsible enough to handle it!"

"Says who?" Warrod asked, arching an eyebrow.

"We-ech-well-there's a reason most children are not this powerful! They aren't meant to be!"

"Are you certain of that?" Warrod mused. "Maybe it's simply because they haven't been given the right environment."

Warrod placed his hand against the roof, a small sprout blooming under his touch.

"Tell me, Hezim, have you ever wondered why two trees of the same species can be planted in two different areas and one can come out a massive giant while the other remains a small sapling?"

"Er…" Hezim frowned, confused.

"Well, it's because of environment. Trees need several things to thrive. Sunlight, water, good soil with plenty of nutrients. Now they can get these things from just about anywhere, but there are certain areas that have more of it. These children are like those trees."

Warrod held his hand out, a seed in his palm. "Just as every seed already has the basic buildings blocks to grow into a large, magnificent tree, these children were all born with the potential and the talent to be powerful wizards. But they were also fortunate enough to be born to equally talented wizards, who are capable of giving them the training and guidance they needed to thrive at home. More importantly than that, though, their parents gave them love, acceptance, a safe place to call home. But it goes even farther than that. These children were also born into a guild that is also capable and willing to love, accept, train, and guide them. They have been encouraged to push the limits of their abilities and improve themselves their whole lives. I dare say that they know nothing else! It's just a part of the spirit their parents and guild have instilled in them. Going above and beyond is as second nature to them as ordering Rune Knights is to you."

"But...but...that still doesn't-"

"Hezim," Warrod grew uncharacteristically serious as he glared at the captain. "Leave them be. That's an order."

Hezim clenched his fists, but hung his head and gave the order:

"Stand down, men."

E.N.D. landed onto the roof and changed back to Natsu, still holding Nashi in his arms. The minute he did his legs gave out under him.

"Uh-oh!" He exclaimed, internally cursing himself for forgetting that his legs were broken as he leaned back so that he hit the roof first, breaking the fall so Nashi wouldn't get hurt. That, unfortunately, meant he felt the whole brunt of the fall.

"Ouch!"

"Daddy?" Nashi asked, worried.

"I'm okay, Firecracker," Natsu assured her, stroking her hair out of her face, cringing as he noticed the multitude of scrapes, bruises, and cuts littering his daughter's body. "You aren't though, are you?"

"I'm fine," Nashi answered, trying to cover her black and blue arms behind her back as Natsu pushed himself into a sitting position.

"Nashi!"

Nashi turned to find Lucy, Layla, and Igneel racing towards her. Lucy fell to her knees, snatching Nashi into her arms.

"Oof!" she grunted as her mother held her tight. "I'm okay, Mommy, really."

"I know," Lucy sighed, fighting back the tears of relief in her eyes.

"That was so cool!" Igneel declared as he raced to his big sister's side. "First the bad was like fwoom-fwoom-fwoom! And then you went KA-BOOM! And then you were both hyah-ha-ha! And you went KA-BOOM! Again! And the you were all slicey-dicey and...and...and...YEAH! NASHI YOU'RE THE COOLEST!"

"Are you okay?" Layla asked, eyes full of worry. "You look pretty beat up."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Nashi smiled just as Igneel tackle hugged her.

"Igneel!" Lucy scolded, but to no avail.

"Teach me how to fight like you! Please, please, please, PPPLLLEEEAAASSSEEE!"

"ACK! Not until you stop choking me your weirdo!" Nashi said as she shoved Igneel off herself.

"Oops!" Igneel said as he fell on his back.

"Why are you always so crazy?" Layla asked.

"I'm not crazy I'm overly-eager!" Igneel stated, arms crossed.

"What's that mean?" Layla cocked her head to one side.

"I dunno, but I heard Aunt Levy say it and it sounded good so I said it."

Natsu and Lucy both laughed as Natsu put an arm around his wife's shoulder. She smiled up at him and leaned her forehead against his.

"Ugh…" The Dragneel family all turned to find Elena huddled in a ball, both hands held against her stomach, tears in her eyes. "Do you know what you just did you little brat!?"

"Huh?" Nashi asked, a strange, cold feeling filling her gut.

"Boss, the others are getting away!" one of the Rune Knights shouted.

"Go get them! And lock her up!" Hezim pointed to Elena.

"Wait!" Elena shouted. "Take me to see a healer first. Please...the baby-"

"Baby!?" everyone shouted.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"She's pregnant!?" both Natsu and Lucy shouted as Jellal explained Elena's situation to them.

"Yes, but not of the usual way," Jellal answered before explaining the spell Elena had developed to them.

"So she can steal unborn babies and make herself pregnant with them even though they aren't hers?" Natsu asked.

"Yes, and that's exactly the case here," Jellal answered. "She took the baby from Nalshe Mikagura's womb. After the beating Nashi gave her she was afraid she'd miscarry. She's fine now, but will stay in the hospital overnight just to be safe."

"Good," Natsu said. That was the last thing Nashi, who was sound asleep in the recovery room behind them, needed!

Jellal reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded wad of paper. "This was found in Elena's pocket. I debated showing you this, but I figured it was only fair to let you know why you were targeted."

He passed it to Lucy who unfolded it and opened it. "'Top Five Hot Magic Mamas?' Oh, I remember this! I did this interview for Sorcerer's Weekly months ago!"

"Yes, this is how Elena picked her victims, as you can see," Jellal said. "Clearly she felt as if she deserved a spot on that list."

Lucy read through the article, a chill going down her spine as she read all the notes Elena had scribbled in the margins:

Well, then, if I can't get what I want guess I should just take it. I need children for my family of a guild anyways!

Lucy Dragneel. She's pregnant. Steal the baby, kill the mom, take the older kids.

Lucy gasped and put a hand to her belly. Elena was planning on taking and carrying this child from her along with the older three!

Erza Scarlet-Fernandez, kill.

Mirajane Dreyar. Pregnant, but too far along for the spell to be of any use, wait until baby is born and then kill. Take the middle kid. Oldest is too old, leave her. If she gets in the way kill her.

"Kill Mira and Farrah?" Lucy squeaked. Murdering an adult was one thing, but killing a thirteen-year-old little girl?

Levy Redfox, kill and take kids.

Juvia Fullbuster, kill and take kids.

Wendy Conbolt, kill and take kids.

Evergreen Stauss, kill and take kid.

Minerva Cheney, wait until the baby is born, then kill. Or kill and cut the baby out, why not?

Lucy all but gagged at the thought of someone cutting a baby from their murdered mother's corpse. But was that any better than using magic to take them?

Yukino Eucliffe, kill and take kid.

Jenny Lates, wait for the baby then kill.

Sherry Akatsuki, kill and steal the baby.

Bisca Conell, her daughter is too old for me but, eh, kill her for the fun of it anyways.

Lucy frowned. Kill for fun? What kind of sick monster was Elena?

Reisha Whiteday, kill and take kid.

Bernicka Rilafille, kill and take kid.

Nalshe Mikagura, pregnant. Kill, take kid, and steal baby.

Next to the last three women in the article were three large check marks. Checks off the list, Elena had successfully killed them all. Now actually seeing their pictures, seeing their smiling faces as they held their children in their laps, Lucy couldn't keep the tears from rolling down her cheeks. She could have so easily been one of them. What had these poor women gone through in their last minutes? The fear of watching their children snatched from them. Especially Nalshe. Just something about watching your unborn baby being stolen from your own body was just…

...barbaric.

To lose even that sacred connection with your child, not getting the honor to carry them full term and birth them?

"Luce?" Natsu asked, setting a hand on her arm as he couldn't reach her shoulder from where he was seated in the wheelchair.

Lucy sniffled again.

"Have...have they found them?"

"Who, the children? Elena's guild mates? The children's fathers?"

"All of them," Lucy nodded.

"Well," Jellal sighed. "Because Samson was trapped in Persephone's cube he wasn't able to run away with his comrades. Erigor, Sina, Laertes, and Wilma are still missing though. As for the six children that were taken, well, they're still missing. Bernika and Reisha's husbands were contacted with the newest information, we'll continue doing what we can in Crime Sorciere to find those six little ones."

"As will we in Fairy Tail," Natsu promised.

"What about Nalshe, though?" Lucy asked. "We at least know where the baby she was pregnant with before she died is. Does her husband-"

"She has no husband," Jellal answered. "And the father of her eldest child is not the same as her youngest. That man has been contacted and, well, he seemed less than concerned. Apparently there was a good reason it didn't work out between him and Nalshe, and those reasons were not Nalshe's fault."

Natsu gritted his teeth as he glowered at the floor. This man's kid was missing and he didn't care! If-

-Natsu even shuddered to think about it-

-but if it had been Lucy that was killed and Nashi, Layla, and Igneel missing he'd be tearing all of Earthland apart to find them.

"And the baby's father?" Lucy asked.

Jellal reached into his pocket and pulled out a newspaper clipping. It was a report on Nalshe's murder.

"Read the end," Jellal said.

Lucy scanned to the bottom of the page.

"...Nalshe's boyfriend and father of her unborn baby was found dead in an alleyway hours later. Whether or not the two murders are connected has yet to be determined…"

"Neither Nalshe nor her boyfriend having any living relatives," Jellal said before Lucy could answer.

Lucy only hung her head as she passed the article to Natsu.

"So...that baby has no one…" Natsu said.

"No one except Elena, ironically," Jellal nodded.

Lucy sniffled again. It was just so sad! All of it! Even though Elena was now under lock and key, magic cancelling handcuffs included, four of her comrades were still on the loose, six children were still missing, three women and a man were dead, and there was now a baby with no family to go home to once it was born.

"Did you hear she's pregnant?" Natsu and Lucy turned as a group of Rune Knights walked in to swap guard shifts on Elena.

"Yeah, I heard all of it. Lousy way to start life, eh?"

"I know, that kids gonna get beat up everywhere it goes. Doesn't matter what orphanage it goes to, everyone will know that it was the one that was birthed by its mother's killer."

"Ugh! That's just creepy!"

"I know, can you imagine growing up with that following you everywhere you went?"

Lucy shuddered as she turned back to Natsu. She could tell he'd overheard as well. Of course he had, he was a dragon slayer.

"Is there anything we can do?" Natsu asked.

Jellal sighed. "Get better. Make sure Nashi gets better. Keep an eye and ear out for the rest of Alteria's children and those six missing children. There's not much else we can do."

Lucy sighed as she took the newspaper article back from Natsu. She stared at the pictures of Nalshe and her boyfriend. Nalshe looked a bit like her, which made this whole thing all the more eerie.

Golden blond hair, brown eyes.

Her boyfriend had jet black hair, blue eyes, and a lazy smile. He strangely reminded her of-

Lucy turned to glance at Natsu. Their eyes met and she knew he had the same thought she did.

"Hey, Jellal, do you know how far along Elena is?"

"About three and a half months," Jellal answered. "Why?"

"Hey," everyone turned at the sound of Gray's voice. "Why you all acting so glum for, c'mon, we've got a new nephew to meet!"

Despite the dire situation Lucy, Natsu, and Jellal couldn't help but smile. Lucy pushed Natsu in front of her as they made their way to Mirajane's room. Jellal held the door open for them so they could enter. Everyone else was already there, ooing and ahing at the tiny bundle in Mirajane's arms.

Lucy craned her neck to see. The baby had electric yellow hair like his father, but a heart shaped face like his mother.

"He's beautiful," Juvia squeed as Gray rejoined her at her side.

"He's gonna be a tough one, I can already tell," Gajeel smiled. "Look at that scowl."

Everyone laughed, for indeed the baby had a deep scowl on his tiny face. Mirajane smiled as she kissed his forehead, Laxus cradling the back of the baby's head.

"What's his name?" Lucy asked.

"Well, we actually wanted to talk to you about that," Mirajane smiled. "All of you."

All the adults turned to the Dreyars, curious.

"Well, as you know, we all, including this little guy, owe our lives to Cato, Roman, Storm, Nashi, Persephone, and Koree," Laxus said.

"Indeed," Erza smiled. "They've certainly made us proud today, our little Birthday Gang."

All the parents laughed at the cute little team name their children went by.

"Well, exactly," Laxus said. "They, as a group, are known as the Birthday Gang because they all have the same birthday."

"And since their birthday is in July, we wanted to honor them by naming our new son July," Mirajane explained.

"But we wanted to make sure it was okay with you guys first."

"'Course it is!" Natsu exclaimed, to which everyone heartily agreed. Natsu smiled and set his finger in the baby's palm. "Hey there, July. It's your uncle Natsu. You don't know me yet, but we're gonna be big buds!"

Lucy smiled as she ran her fingers through Natsu's hair. He's always been good with kids, especially theirs. Natsu glanced up at her. Without words, she asked him about what they'd silently agreed on only minutes earlier.

His face grew serious and he nodded.

She nodded back.


	15. Epilogue

Epilogue: Seven Months Later

The sky was painted a strange, dark red. But that was to be expected with an eclipse. Thankfully this eclipse day was much less eventful than the last eclipse. No time gates. No dragons. No life-or-death situations. Outside of the eclipse, the day was pretty normal for most of the world. Peaceful. Except in one private wing of a Crocus hospital. A few reporters had caught wind of the news. That killer Elena Alteria had gone into labor, and had flooded the lobby. But they were not allowed up on the top floor where the action was actually happening.

"Come one, you're almost there," a healer encouraged.

Elena shook her head as she gasped for breath. She didn't want to push anymore, not just because of the man, but because of the strange man standing in the back corner, arms crossed, head hung.

"You have to push!" the healer said again.

Despite her unwillingness to, instinct took over and she began to push again.

"AUGH!" she screamed, tears streaming down her face. Not because of pain, but because of what she knew would happen once the child was born.

"And there we go!" the healer cheered as she stood to her feet, a white bundle in her arms. "A healthy little girl!"

Elena lunged forward, fighting against the magic cancelling restraints that held her in spot.

"Let me see her, let me see her please!" she begged, tears running down her face. "Please, I want to hold her, just once!"

The healer jumped back, narrowing her eyes at Elena.

"Go on," the man in the corner said.

The healer gave him a bewildered look.

"It's not like she's going to go anywhere," he pointed out. "Let her say goodbye."

The healer nodded slowly and set the baby against Elena's chest. Elena gasped as she saw the child, bursting into tears. She was unable to hold the child, though, because her hands were chained to the bed by magic blocking handcuffs. Instead she just laid there, kissing the baby's head.

"You're so pretty," she whispered. "You're perfect. So, so perfect."

"Alright," the man sighed, almost sounding regretful for what he was about to do. "I've got to get going."

He scooped the child into his arms.

"No, don't!" Elena begged. "Don't take her, please! Don't take my baby!"

"She was never yours and you know it," the man said in a calm voice. "You stole her from her mother, who you murdered. You have no right to keep her, no matter how much you may want to."

Rather than get angry or curse, Elena broke down crying. "Please, she's all I have left! The only good thing in my life!"

"Then give a chance at a good life," the man said. "Let her go."

"You're not going to give me a choice are you!?" Elena thundered.

"No."

"And you say I'm wicked!"

"Look, I get no pleasure out of this," the man sighed. "I'm just trying to do what's best for this kid."

Elena sniffled and choked on her sobs.

"And if you really loved her you'd do the same thing."

"Just…" Elena cried. "Just let me give her one last kiss."

The man conceded, bending down to let Elena kiss the baby's cheek.

"Goodbye little one."

The man sighed as he stood up, tucking the baby into the crook of his arm and covering her with his cloak.

"You won't remember me after today, but I'll leave all the memories of her," he said.

"Thank you," Elena whispered.

The man set a finger to her forehead, erasing all memory of himself. He did the same to the healer and then he just disappeared.

Elena blinked, looking about for the baby.

"Where is she!? Where is she!? Who took her!? Where's my baby!?"

Her sobs echoed down the hall, reaching down to the reporters below.

"Is that her?"

"Did she have the baby?"

"Did the baby die?"

"Where's the baby?"

The baby was already gone, though. Tucked safely in Mest's arm as he direct-lined himself away from the hospital. He had several thoughts running through his mind as he shot his way across the landscape. Seven months later and there was still no sign of Wilma, or Sina, or Laertes, or Erigor, or the six missing children. No doubt by now there would be whispers of the missing baby. What happened to it after Elena gave birth? Was it stillborn? Did Elena kill it? Was it smuggled back to her guild? Did it ever really exist?

Only Mest and a select few others would know the truth.

Mest finally stopped at a small cabin in the middle of the woods. It was a quiet place. Isolated. Far, far away from any prying eyes. Mest pulled his cloak closer over the baby as he approached the front door and knocked.

At first no one came to the door.

"Hm. She must not be done yet," he said as he sat on a seat at the front porch. Surely he knew he was here. He could hear a small him no problem. He'd come as soon as he was sure his wife was fine. He rocked the baby to sleep as he waited. She was tiny, able to fit perfectly in the crook of his arm. Doubts swirled in his mind as he waited. Not that he didn't admire what they were doing, but...

After a few minutes the door opened and Natsu, now able to walk again, stepped outside.

"Mest," he said, walking towards his guild mate. "Sorry it took me a while. Lucy was still in labor."

"I figured as much, but she's alright?" Mest asked, pulling his cloak back around himself and over the baby.

"Oh, yeah, she did awesome. As expected," Natsu said proudly, a big smile on his face. "It's a girl!"

"Congratulations," Mest said, smiling at the irony of the situation.

"Thanks," Natsu said before his smile faded. "So...did something go wrong?"

"Why you ask?"

"Where's the baby?"

Mest sighed, pulling his cloak closer over the sleeping babe in the crook of his arm, hiding her from view.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.

"Huh?" Natsu arched an eyebrow.

"This isn't going to be easy. I mean, sure, you can keep this a secret for now, but not forever. You'll have to tell her the truth at some point. How are you going to deal when it gets to that point? And how are the rest of your kids going to handle it? And then once the secret is out...this is a pretty dark and heavy situation that she's never going to be able to outrun or walk away from, no matter what-"

"You don't know that," Natsu said. "Yeah, this baby's getting a rough start in life. But so did I. I was reborn as E.N.D. A demon designed specifically to kill my older brother. But I'm not just E.N.D. anymore. I'm Natsu Dragneel. I have a family, a guild, a great life. If I can do it so can she. That's why I have to do this. My father, Igneel, gave me a chance at a good life when no one else would. I can't just turn away from his child when I can do the same thing for them."

"But...sooner or later you'll-"

"We're not going to keep this a secret from the baby. We'll tell them tiny bits of the truth as they gets older. They'll always know they're adopted, but they'll also know there's a reason we tell everyone else that they're a twin. We'll let them know that something bad happened when they were born, but we'll leave out all the crazy details until they're old enough to handle it. They'll always know they're there though. This will only be a secret to the rest of the world."

"For how long?" Mest asked. "How long are you going to hide this from the rest of the world?"

"Until the baby decides to tell 'em," Natsu answered. "This is their story to tell, not ours. And Lucy and I will guard it for them until they are ready to decide what to do with it."

Mest sighed. "So you're sure?"

"Yes, now where's my baby!" Natsu was getting agitated.

Mest threw his cloak off. "She's right here. A healthy little girl."

"Two girls?" Natsu asked, letting out a small laugh as he stepped forward to take the baby from Mest. "Igneel's gonna be pissed!"

He cradled the little girl to his chest.

"Well, hello there," he whispered, face breaking into a wide grin as he gently rocked her in his arms. "Hi. Hi, sweetie. Aren't you beautiful?"

The baby yawned and opened her eyes. They were brown, not quite the same shade as Lucy's, but close enough. Her hair was jet black. A good thing Zeref had black hair, Natsu thought. That makes it easy for us to explain away. The baby screwed up her face and began to cry.

"Oh, sh," Natsu whispered softly. "Sh, sh, sh. I know, it's been a rough ride so far for you, hasn't it. But it's all over now."

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "You're home."

The baby's cries reduced to whimpers.

"That's it," Natsu crooned. "You're safe now. I'm going to protect you from now on. I promise."

The baby blinked up at him, still whimpering. Natsu kissed her forehead again.

"I'm your Daddy. And I love you. More than you'll ever now, even if I have just met you."

The whimpers finally stopped and the baby just stared up at him, wide-eyed and curious.

"That's it," Natsu gently stroked her cheek with his finger. "Come on, let's go meet your Mommy."

He turned to walk back inside, but stopped at the door and turned to Mest.

"Remember, as far as you know Lucy and I had twins. You have no idea what happened to the baby Elena was carrying."

"I know," Mest nodded and then direct-lined himself away. Natsu stepped back in the cabin. It was small, but cozy. He and Lucy were the only ones there besides the two babies. Porlyusica had already left, but not before promising that if anyone asked her to tell them that Lucy had given birth to twins. She quickly, but rudely agreed.

"Sure. Whatever. I don't care."

The other three children were staying with the Redfoxes. Natsu and Lucy had come here about three days ago, knowing Lucy was due to give birth soon, as well as Elena. In order for their plan to work they needed to be somewhere secluded. Somewhere no one could stumble upon them and find out their secret.

Natsu carried the baby back into the bedroom where Lucy was lying on the bed, another baby cradled to her chest.

"Hey, Luce," he called softly.

Lucy slowly opened her sleepy eyes, sweat still on her brow.

"I'll trade ya," Natsu said brightly.

Lucy giggled as Natsu placed the child he was carrying on her chest and then took the other one into his arms.

This baby was, ironically, about the same size at the one Elena had given birth to. She also, ironically, had brown eyes, which she used to curiously watch her father as he set her in his arms. Natsu smiled as he cradled her close as he smoothed her hair. It was a peach color, much lighter than his or Nashi's color, with just hints of gold woven within it. He gently kissed the top of her head.

"Hello," he whispered. "Aren't you just perfect?"

"Ah," the baby crooned.

"You talking to me already? Your just like your oldest sister was when she was born."

"Ah."

"Yup, she was a chatterbox from the jump too."

Natsu kissed the baby's cheek. The baby squirmed against him, trying to grab onto his shirt with her tiny hands.

"You trying to snuggle?" Natsu asked as he adjusted his arms, setting her against his chest so she could listen to his heartbeat. "Well, you do that. Daddy's a bit of a cuddler himself."

"Don't I know it," Lucy smirked from where she was holding their other daughter, smoothing her jet-black hair. She then let out a small giggle.

"Whatcha laughing at?" Natsu asked.

"It's just kind of funny…" Lucy mused. "We have two daughters born on two different ends of Fiore during an eclipse, when the sun and moon cross over each other from different ends of the sky. One has bright hair and is chattery and cheerful like the sun. The other has dark hair and is quiet and sky like the moon."

"Huh," Natsu said as the baby he was holding began loudly sucking on her hand. "I didn't think about it like that. I guess that is kind of funny."

"Yeah," Lucy smiled as she turned back to the baby in her arms. "That does give me an idea for names, though…"

"Yeah?" Natsu asked. "What are they?"

"Well, for this one," Lucy ran a finger over the black hair of the baby in her arms. "Luna, because it means 'moon.' And for that one, Kyri, because it means 'sun.'"

"Hm," Natsu thought for a moment. "Luna and Kyri. I actually kinda like that. What about middle names?"

"Well, why not Summer for one?" Lucy asked. "'Natsu' does mean summer after all. Makes sense to give one of them that name then."

"Sure!"

"Which one?"

"Hm…" Natsu thought for a bit. "Luna Summer or Kyri Summer? You know, I think Kyri Summer has a better ring to it."

"I guess it also makes sense given her first name means 'sun.' Alright, Kyri Summer Dragneel it is," Lucy turned back to Luna, now asleep in her arms. "Now what about you?"

"I...ehm...might have an idea…" Natsu said bashfully.

"Yeah?" Lucy asked, curious as to why he was so shy all of a sudden.

"I mean, I know he did a lot of bad things...and he was technically a bad guy...but Zeref was still my brother. And he brought me back to life and got me to you so I, erm, I guess I kinda owe him. So..."

Lucy smiled softly. "Go on."

"Well I was, eh, I was reading through a baby name book, and I came across the name 'Darcey.' It's suppsoed to mean 'dark' and Zeref was known as 'The Dark Wizard,' so…"

Silence fell over the room.

"Luna Darcey Dragneel. I like it," Lucy finally said, smoothing Luna's hair once more.

The sky outside went from red back to its usual blue. The eclipse was over, but Kyri and Luna's adventures had only begun. Natsu set Kyri back onto Lucy's chest, then laid down next to her, one arm around her shoulder, the other tracing lines across his daughters face. Now that they were laying side by side it was impossible to tell which was birthed by Lucy and which was birthed by Elena.

And that was how it should have been.

Back at the guildhall Mest sipped on his drink. A few of his guild mates gave him knowing glances:

Laxus and Mirajane. Erza. Gajeel and Levy. Gray and Juvia. Wendy and Romeo. Lisanna and Bixslow. Evergreen and Elfman. Freed. Happy and Carla.

They all knew where he'd been today. The rest, however, they were blissfully clueless.

Mest smiled as he sipped on his drink.

Yes, three women were still dead. Four criminals were still on the loose. Six children were still missing.

But there was one bright spot now. That little baby he'd carried from Crocus to that cabin in the woods behind Fiore, she was going to be just fine. She had a family, a mother and father who would love her just as if she was their biological child. She was going to lead a loving and normal life, despite her tragic start in life.

Mest smiled as he finished his drink and asked Mirajane for another.

That was one bright spot at least.

Laxus waited until the official letter from Natsu and Lucy came to make the announcement.

"Well, you all know the Dragneels went on vacation to get some much needed time alone to recover after these past few, rather traumatic months for them…"

The guild members all nodded their heads solemnly.

"Well, they got a bit more than they bargained for because Lucy has given birth..."

Cheers and gasps rang out.

Laxus grinned before adding: "...to twins!"

"WHAT!?" everyone shouted, even the ones who knew better.

"Yup, so give me a hand in welcoming our two newest guild members: Kyri Summer Dragneel, and Luna Darcey Dragneel!"

Mest smiled as he joined in the applause. Both of the girls were welcomed in the same way. He wasn't even sure which was the adopted one. And that's how it should have been.

This may have been only one small bright spot in the midst of the trauma of the past few months, but it was quite the bright spot indeed.

AN: So, that's the end of this story! I will admit, I debated on how to end this story for a while. I finally decided to go the bittersweet route. I had thought about all the bad guys getting caught and all the kids being saved, but this leaves the door open for more stories in the future! :P

I also debated on who should adopt the baby Elena stole. At first I worried that having Natsu and Lucy take her would be cliche because they're the main characters (and, yes, she was always going to be a girl, as was Natsu and Lucy's biological child, regardless of who ended up adopting the one Elena stole). But, given Natsu's past and begin adopted himself I thought it made sense he'd want to be the one to take the baby.

Let me know if you liked these choices (it's too late to change them now in THIS story, but if you didn't like them then I'll know not to make similar decisions in the future.)

Once again, thank you so, SO much for all the support. I've been kinda in a weird spot in my life. Writing is one of my passions and I'd love to make a career of it someday (I do have an original story I'm working on outside of my fanfictions). However, certain events in my life have made me doubt myself a bit. All the positive feedback I've gotten from this story has helped to pick me up immensely, though. Seriously, you'll never know how much all the compliments I've gotten has meant to me.

Thank you all so SO much! I hope you like this ending, and I hope you'll be excited for more in the future.

Love you!

God bless!

Sincerely,

Ms. EarthbendingRavenclaw

(Yes, I'm a chick. I've had a few people ask me, so let's clear it up. I is female! A very smol and quirky female with big glasses and poofy hair! Kinda like post makeover Princess Mia from The Princess Diaries. Am I the only one who remembers those movies? Yes. No. Okay, I'm awkwarding this up too much so…

...bbbbyyyyeeeee!)


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